A Chance to Live
by Megakat Salvage
Summary: A serious missile strike lands both SWAT Kats in Megakat Memorial, on separate floors. But it's more than distance keeping the two vigilantes apart.
1. Chapter 1

Nothing could have prepared Razor for the agony of his own burning flesh.

The first impact knocked them out of the sky; a katastrophic, glass shattering, smoking cacophony. The Turbo Kat was nearly set down next to the tank ship Dark Kat had stolen from Pumadyne. The missile was unexpected and there was no way to have avoided it. It tore into the nose portion of the Turbo Kat. By comparison the short drop to the ground was little more than a bad jolt, but Razor's head cracked forwards to shatter the radar panel with his helmet and he felt pain blooming low in his hips.

But by that time he was burning. Screams tore from the tomkat's throat, though distantly he realized he couldn't hear them. He heard only a droning dull buzz. He can't hear the flames crackling and crawling up his leg and across his torso despite the protective flight suit. He doesn't hear the glass shattering as the Enforcer standing on the wing knocked away the remaining canopy with the butt of her rifle, or the hiss of the fire extinguisher her partner was sweeping across Razor's legs. Nor the clicks and scratching of his own claws fighting the buckles and straps trapping him in this inferno.

Razor was still screaming when he was grabbed under the pits and drug out of the Turbo Kat. Still screaming as frantic Enforcers beat out flames with blankets and their own hands, and paramedics slosh water over his hands, his abdomen and leg. He's still trying to scramble away from the pain, even as arms grab his limbs and he's hauled farther from the burning jet. His fist lashes out and connects against someone's chin as he's laid back on the ground. Someone's upper body splays across his, their forearm pinning his shoulders. His screams are interrupted by great hacking coughs, an oxygen mask is slipped over his face, and a patch of fur is shaved on his forearm. Steady paws grip his arm and a paramedic slips a needle through his skin.

The IV is held aloft and some sort of sweet, blessed relief begins creeping through his veins. Distantly he realizes that Feral is crouched next to him on the ground, one hand on his helmet. The Commander is talking to him earnestly with an expression that might possibly be concern on his craggy face. Razor stares at Feral with bemusement, finally shaking his head. "Can't hear you Commander," he rasps between coughs. Well he thinks he said it, in any case. But Feral's eyes meet his and he nods, the stern expression returning. He stands and walks towards the smoke plume. Scissors are shredding his flight suit, with new and liberal lacings of pain along his legs as the fabric is unwilling to separate from burnt flesh. He tries to pull away, staring distractedly at the blue, puffy clouds above that are being smeared with smoke. Hands hold him down, pouring more water, squeezing a blood pressure cuff on his arm, fingers pulling his eyelids back and shining a flashlight in his eyes. A paramedic in a green ball cap leans over him and shouts at him soundlessly but Razor just stares at him with faint puzzlement.

Then a thought hits his fuddled mind. One that should never have been so difficult to recover. "T-Bone?" Razor whispers, glancing up at the paramedic with the stethoscope in ears listening to his chest. "Hey. Hey! Where's my partner?," he rasps. The paramedic glances at him for a moment then looks back to his work, avoiding Razor's eyes. Cold, icy terror floods Razor's chest and he cranes his neck, starting to scream again but for T-Bone this time. Hands grip below his jaw to immobilize his neck and an Enforcer is in his face, shouting. Razor ignores him and struggles with the medics, eyes roving. The Turbo Kat is burning steadily despite the fire kats pumping flame retardant over and around. The cockpit is spilling over with it though the nose on back up to the weapons panel is missing. Including the pilot seat. The tank ship that hit it is smoldering and Enforcers with long weapons are clambering on top and through the hatch. A dead and still sizzling Kreepling is tossed out. Whatever missile Dark Kat had hit them with packed a lot of punch, and in his distraction Razor stops wriggling and wonders if there's an undetonated one he can get a look at. Beside, that hurt. Why'd so much hurt? Puzzled, he watches as something clear and yellowish is injected into his IV line.

Callie's face fills his vision. Her hand reaches to touch Razor's cheek and he suddenly remembers what was bothering him so much before. "Ms. Briggs! T-Bone? Where's T-Bone?" He shouts at her, starting to cough. Concerned, she looks over her shoulder and chokes back a sob, tears welling. As they roll down her cheeks he can read her lips.

_He's hurt bad. _

Glancing where she'd looked, he saw a crowd of paramedics, Enforcers, and a couple of civilians. And Feral, with an inscrutable expression. Then he spots a familiar hand encased in a digit less black glove, sticking out among the tangle of Enforcers and medics. And a stream of blood. More than a stream. More like an ocean.

'T-Bone.'

And Razor is screaming again. Screaming his friend's name and struggling against the staff holding him down. Feral glances his way, starting to pick his way through the crowd. Two civilians are holding IV bags and squeezing them to force the fluids in faster. A medic jumps up, running towards an ambulance and Razor gets a clear glimpse before the people shift again. An Enforcer with blood soaked fur past her wrists is earning heavily on T-Bone's thigh, wads of red soaked cotton under her hands. Her cheeks are speckled red with bright arterial blood. A second Kat is holding a mask over T-Bone's face and a third pumping the bag attached to force air into lifeless lungs. And another is doing frantic chest compressions.

That's the last Razor sees of T-Bone for a few minutes, as a cervical collar is fitted and hands turn him onto his side. A backboard is slipped underneath and straps pin him uncomfortably straight. Even his forehead is strapped down with a strip of Velcro. He does see Callie, trying to shout at him. Watches the helicopter landing. A gurney with attendants all around being moved in, same Kat still doing CPR, same Enforcer trying to stop the blood welling between her fingers. And he watches the helicopter taking off with his friend. Then the sight of the helicopter is lost as he's lifted and carried into an ambulance.

By the expressions of the staff Razor can tell they're worried but about him, not about T-Bone. But T-Bone is the one who's really hurt, dying. Maybe dead already. The rig begins to move and Razor begins to sob brokenheartedly. "Hold on T-Bone.. . You got to hold on. Please, buddy..." He whispers raspily. "Chance. Please don't die," he whispers, beginning to cough again. Some sort of misty crud that makes him feel jittery and tastes odd is added into the oxygen setup and Razor tries to concentrate on breathing. They're trying to help him, he can at least cooperate. Then he sees him, leaning back into the corner at the head of the gurney, out of the paramedics way, shoulders hunched and paws resting on the pommel of his cane. Commander Feral. His expression was unreadable but burning eyes locked onto Razor and he feels his throat constrict. How much was he thinking and how much had he said? "T-Bone can't die" he rasps, staring into Feral's face. Begging. If begging will save Chance, he'll crawl on his knees. Feral's expression softens almost imperceptibly and Razor wonders if he maybe didn't imagine it. Then the Commander reaches to awkwardly squeeze Razor's shoulder, an attempt to comfort anyway. And goes back to his silent vigil.

The rest of the ambulance ride is uneventful. Razor stares at the ceiling dully, and shivers despite the blankets covering him by the time they enter Megakat Memorial ER. Another blanket fresh out of the warmer is draped over him. It feels like heaven. The ER doctor quickly gets frustrated at shouting at a deafened and rather sedated SWAT Kat whose burnt hands are useless for holding a pen. The doc finally starts writing notes and a nurse digs up an alphabet sign, and another stupid board with faces for "yes," and "no," and pictures of things like "phone" "toilet" and "snack." Between Razors' rusty sounding voice, the doctors scribbling and the nurses stupid board, he finally gets the story.

_Yes, T-Bone is alive. In surgery. They're doing all they can for him I assure you. Focus on yourself right now. Do you have any allergies? Any past surgeries, joint replacements, metal implants..._

Between assessments, Kat scans, x-rays, more doses of medication and the mind numbing picture board for the tiniest communication, Razor finds Feral is constantly nearby. Watching. Asking questions Razor can't hear. Badgering the nurses. Even once disappearing and returning with a cup of ice chips when he spotted Razor swallowing painfully. Though he has trouble hiding a smirk when Razor can't quite manage the spoon with his hands bandaged into mittens. They're in the ER for hours. He's cleared for cervical injuries and released from the neck brace and back board. The remains of his suit is exchanged for a stupid backless dress thing that is uncomfortably breezy. He learns that something is broke in his pelvis, which explains the pain in his, well, pelvis. His eyes are washed out, his ears examined, then given more medicine to breathe that makes him cough. And stings his eyes all over again. His burns are unwrapped, prodded, wrapped up again. They don't touch his mask.

_The pelvis fracture will heal with time and therapy. You've got burns to more than 25% of your body. 7% of that is full thickness, your leg. The rest is mostly second degree. Your fur may not grow back where you've been burnt. You are at risk of an infection. But more pressing is the risk of dehydrating through fluid loss out of the burns. So you've got a long recovery ahead. We're waiting for surgery to be ready to take you to have those burns debrided. You'll wake up in the burn unit. _ _I don't have more information about T-Bone. I know he's survived surgery and is in the ICU. _

When they move him into preop there was another wait. Forms to sign and the same questions asked again in new ways. But before they actually take him in, Razor's hand shoots out towards Feral's wrist. The Commanders eyebrow shoots up towards his hairline. "Feral...?" He pauses, unsure how to continue.

The Commanders mouth presses into a thin line and he steps away slightly, beetling dark brows. Then a faint nod and he says, speaking carefully "I will stay with T-Bone."

Inexplicably a sense of peace floods through Razor and he smiles dreamily, unfocused. Feral gets an uncomfortable expression and turns to leave. 'Strange that Feral stalking T-Bone is reassuring,' he ponders, then notes the nurse removing a syringe from his IV. 'Oh. Well guess I haven't lost my mind.' He relaxes and lets the medication lull him as the overhead lights brighten.

He vaguely remembers post op and again Feral was there, angrily pointing into the face of a scowling Kat in green scrubs. He watched with mild interest, wondering if the doc was going to win this argument. Mid argument, Feral realized he was being watched. "You're not headed for the burn unit. I'll see to it you see your friend first," he stated in his stiff authoritative manner. Razor heard him this time though his ears were still buzzing. Feral is looking out for him. Why so protective all of a sudden? He tried asking but his voice rasps worse than before, throat hurting. And Feral left abruptly. The cart moved and Razor drifted off again while staring up at the ceiling lights.

When he comes to, he decides quickly that he's woke up at his own funeral or some weird macabre birthday party. Balloons and ribbons dance on the ceiling. There is a riot of flowers and Get Well cards in the corner and conquering the windowsill. Turning his head, he listens to soft beeping from a cardiac monitor. The buzzing in his ears has faded to a faint annoying ring. He yelps as he twists his neck back, and a hand rests on his shoulder.

"Easy, Razor. You probably hurt all over, huh?" Lt. Felina Feral is settled in a chair next to his bed. She's wearing a yellow and white dotted dress and Razon stares at her a second.

"Lieutenant? A dress?" he rasps, voice harsh and cracking.

"Hey, sometimes I wear dresses. I'm off duty" she says rather defensively. She picks up a cup and straw and brings it to his lips. He takes a long thirsty swallow of ice cold milk, thinking that was probably the best tasting thing he'd ever had. "T-Bone's still in the ICU" she says, as he drinks. "But you're relatively lucky. You're going to be fine, after probably a couple weeks in here."

"Both of us. Both of us are going to be okay" he replies, firmly. "Right? Lieutenant. How's my buddy T-Bone? How long is he gonna be in here?"

Felina hesitates just a moment too long, taking the hesitation to set the cup back down. One breath, and she shakes her head. "The doctor's don't know yet."

He stares at her with confusion. "What's that mean?"

Both look up as the door opens, and the Deputy Mayor steps inside, briefcase in hand. Her expression brightens as she sees Razor awake. "Razor, thank goodness! We've all been so worried. Are you in much pain?"

"Cal- I mean, uh, Ms. Briggs. T-Bone's alright isn't he? I mean he's going to be?"

The two she-kats exchange a glance and Callie pulls up a chair, sitting next to Felina. Her voice is soft as she speaks. "He's really badly hurt, Razor. That missile hit right below the pilot's seat and blew the whole nose section of the Turbo Kat away. You were mostly protected by the weapons console. But T-Bone…" she hesitates, and Felina speaks.

"He took the brunt of the blast. He was thrown out of the cockpit still strapped into the seat. I'm told it could have been worse. He didn't get burned like you did. But there was a lot of shrapnel. A big artery opened up. He bled a lot and he has a head injury. His face kissed the pavement."

"And he's got a lot of broken ribs, and he's just really banged up," Callie takes up the tale. "He didn't break his neck or back, thank goodness."

"Well… how bad is this head injury?" Razor asks. "I mean, he's awake by now right? It's been hours."

Felina speaks gently. "No, he's not awake. Razor, they're still waiting to know a lot. He lost so much blood... His body was starving for oxygen. The doctors said he had a kind of heart attack because of it. And the head injury… there's swelling inside his brain. A lot of it. The doctors are trying to relieve the pressure. He might need more surgery."

Razor looks between the two of them angrily, leaning up on his elbows which sends shards of pain through his hip, and the monitors beep fretfully at his heart rate. "What happens if they can't relieve the pressure?"

"Well… they're gong to know a lot more in the next couple of days. Dr. Bengal said he was pretty confident the treatment they're trying will work. But…" Callie hesitates again and Felina takes up the tale.

"T-Bone may not... If he wakes up, he's going to take a lot of time to get better. He's…. it's really bad, Razor," she says bluntly.

Razor thrusts the covers off and tries swinging his legs out, paling with pain. "I've got to see him. Right now," he says angrily.

"Razor, fine. Right now, alright? Just relax a moment" Callie replies, as Felina heads back to the door. Razor sinks back, fur sheened with sweat.

Hesitantly, Callie touches his hand a moment. "I'm sorry. We tried to explain it gently."

He shakes his head, grabbing the bed rail and hauling himself up. "It's... Not your fault, Ms. Briggs." The cardiac monitor is making a high pitched squealing, and Felina, dainty thing that she is, punches it as she returns. It makes a 'hweeep' and returned to calmer beeping.

There's a flurry of activity as a couple nurses enter, bringing a wheelchair. An Enforcer guard with a long weapon is stationed just inside the door as they fuss. The heart monitor is disconnected, oxygen is hung from the back of the chair, IVs are strung on the stand. It seems to take an eternity to get Razor comfortably settled into the chair, tucked in like an infant with pillows and a blanket. "I'll be your nurse in the burn unit today. I'm going to take you up there after you visit T-Bone. Normally you'd be in the unit by now," one of the nurses says, introducing herself as Jamue, "but Commander Feral insisted your doctor allow you to see your partner first."

"Feral did that?" Baffled, Razor winces as he tries to adjust enough to sit comfortably.

"Hey, Uncle can be very persuasive" Felina says wryly. When he's finally settled, with all the oxygen tubing untangled from where he'd sat on it, IV pump no longer beeping shrilly, and feet up on the pedals, Jamue pushes his chair into the hall, Two more Enforcer guards are stationed outside the door. They fall into step behind Razor's little entourage and he stares at them a moment and finds himself sub consciously tugging at his mask. "You're still masked, vigilante. Nobody was going to rip it off you as you slept" the Lieutenant says, perhaps a bit acidly.

Razor, Jamue the nurse, Felina and Callie, and the two Enforcers go from hall to elevator, to another hall, then another elevator and down another hall, this one actually a tunnel between buildings. He sees very few others and belatedly realises that Enforcer staff have cleared the route. Before he can question why they took the trouble, they turn into ICU and he catches his breath. Feral is standing at a doorway at the end of the hall between two more Enforcer guards, a mug of coffee in hand and he glances over as they approach.

"Good to see you looking better, SWAT Kat. Your friend is getting good care here" he adds rather uncomfortably, and clears his throat. A large tabby steps forward and Feral speaks to him. "Ah, Doctor Bengal. Perhaps you can explain the situation to him."

Razor's barely registering Feral's presence by this time, because through the window in the wall separating the nurse's desk from the tiny patient room, he can see IVs hanging. And he's counted them. There's a heavy step as Feral moves closer, repeating himself, and Razor glances up distractedly. "Yeah, Commander?"

"I said, I want to assure you your injuries will not go unpunished. Dark Kat got away, but he won't get away for long. You have my word." And he stalks away.

Moments later Razor is sitting next to T-Bone's bed, staring at a confusing tangled collection of tubes and wires. Soft beeping comes from monitors, stacked four high at the head of the bed, underscored by the quiet purring of IV pumps. Three of them, double sided, all running. Two with smaller IV piggyback bags plugged into the ports, flowing more meds into the lines. T-Bone's head is elevated a bit, and Razor realizes he's maskless. But it doesn't make any difference. Nobody will recognise this Kat. Chance's face is one swollen, black bruise, with fur shaved close to the skin. Bloody gauze is wrapped around his head and a tube is extending out from under the cotton. Another tube disappears down Chance's nose, held in place with a half roll or more of tape. The other end is attached to something on the wall, with a canister beneath. Drips of red tinged greenish… something is in the tube and being pulled into the canister. Feeling slightly nauseated, he realises it's draining out of Chance's throat, or his lung or stomach. It's being sucked out of somewhere. Scabs and patchy fur dot his face, stitches here and there.

The doctor, who'd introduced himself as Dr. Bengal, was speaking. Talking about intracranial pressure, coma, aspiration pneumonia, atelectasis, internal bleeding. But Jake is barely understanding him. Instead, he's staring at the thick tube disappearing into a mass of gauze on Chance's chest, draining a thin bloody froth into a container of bubbling water on the floor. At the lines disappearing into the skin of his upper arm, under his collar bone, even one tunneling into his throat. Each is hooked into IV lines, or monitors with wiggling symbols and graph lines on meaningless displays. He realises then that the monitor labeled 'intracranial pressure' is hooked into the tube disappearing into the bandage on Chance's head, and that it must actually extend inside his skull. There's soft beeping, and pinging and the quiet "whssssh" noise of the bellows in a ventilator, Chance's chest rising in time. From it, another tube snakes down Chance's throat, taped and fixed in place by some strap contraption out of a bad halloween costume. There are even more tubes hanging out of this, with clips and 'warning' labels hanging. For testing something, maybe? He doesn't know.

Then he noticed the worst part. The cuffs. Soft, foam friendly looking things fastened to Chance's wrists, with straps tied to convenient hooks in the bed frame.

A sob escapes his throat as he fumbles for Chance's hand. He can't even hold it, he thinks bitterly, as again the bandages get in his way. Still he fumbles to take Chance's fingers between his wrapped hands. "Hey, buddy," he says softly. "I hope you can hear me. I know they're taking real good care of you here, but uh, you look like crud, T-Bone. And I don't know how much they're saying in front of you, but ignore them. Just focus on getting better, alright? You have always been a fighter. Well you got to fight now, T-Bone. I know you can come back from this... Hey. Dark Kat is still out there, you know that right? Feral isn't going to be able to take him down without us. And I'm really going to need your help with the Turbo Kat. Thing's a mess. The Enforcers filled the cockpit with that flame retardant junk. It's gonna be forever getting it out."

Softly he talks to him, still holding his limp cold hand. The doctor slips out. Nurses creep in and out again to attend to alarms and the multiple IV lines. To shift the inert body a little in the bed. To listen to his lungs and suction the breathing tube in his throat when it starts to clog with thick, sticky saliva. Recording the data they seem to understand off the mystery monitors. A nurse and Dr. Bengal return, staring at the print outs. Bengal steps out, starting to make a call on his cell phone. Two hours have passed. And nothing. Not a twitch of an ear tip or a whisker flick. Heels click against the flooring and Callie's hand gently rests on his shoulder. "Razor. They're going to move him back to surgery. The pressure inside his head is worse. I don't understand, but we need to go."

"T-Bone, listen to me buddy" Razor says, ignoring Callie and trying to clutch T-Bone's hand in his own useless, clubby fat fingers. "They're gonna take good care of you. I don't want to leave but they're taking you for more surgery. I'm gonna watch out for you, alright. Oh and guess what, Feral's got the place crawling with Enforcers, heh, maybe he thinks we're gonna run off before he can arrest us?" And maybe he imagined it. But T-Bone's fingers just barely curl. Callie and Razor pause, as Felina enters. "...T-Bone? Can you hear me, hot shot?" he asks. But there's nothing, no more movement, no fluttering of eyelids. Callie exhales and steps out of the room. And Felina leans in and places her hand gently on his shoulder.

"Jake" she whispers softly into his ear. His mouth turns to cotton, and he turns to stare at her. "What… what'd you just call me?" Her hand slides from his shoulder down to his forearm, gently squeezing. "Come on, SWAT Kat. You're headed for the burn unit. Besides," she murmurs, leaning in to his ear once more. "Chance is going to pull through. He has to, right? With a name like that."


	2. Chapter 2

((I want to thank all of you for being so kind and supportive of this first effort of mine. I am so very pleased people are enjoying this fic. Please comment how you like this chapter.))

SWAT Kats are property of Hannah-Barbera and are used without permission. Various named and unnamed OCs that do not appear in the cartoons are owned by me.))

Summary: A serious explosion lands the SWAT Kats in Megakat Memorial, Razor to the burn unit and T-Bone in the ICU. The Metallikats decide this is a 'poifect' opportunity to get even with those meddlesome SWAT Kats. How is a burned and battered Razor to protect his comatose partner when able-bodied Enforcers can't?

"We're almost through, alright Razor? The worst of it's almost over," Rosie chirps in that perky-bright way she has. She's swathed in plastic protective gear and her face is covered by a surgical mask. Razor's in a tub full of steadily dirtier water as dry blood and dead skin are sloughed off. The worst burn was third degree, his foot nearly up to the knee and while the ET nurse kept assuring him it looked better every day, it was still pretty disgusting. And painful when debrided. His other burns, which were mostly scattered over his lower body, were gonna take less to heal.

His hands were burnt as well. Not as bad, but they kinda hurt more at times. Partially because the burns were shallower than the full thickness on his leg, which meant fewer destroyed and senseless nerve endings. But mostly because you try to use them! With his leg wrapped up he barely remembers it.

Nearby, similarly swathed in protective gear, is Felina. Why she'd come every day for this, he didn't know. Nor why Commander Feral allowed it. But he was grateful for the company. She was settled in a wheelchair, hands back behind her head as she tries to describe the firepower of the missiles Dark Kat had stolen. Pumadyne hadn't been real forthcoming with that info but with Feral and Mayor Manx breathing down their necks they'd finally shared the specs.

The nurse was being as gentle as possible but it didn't help. Peeling away the dead skin was excruciating, despite pain meds. He focused on Felina's voice until Rosie, the nurse speaks up. "Done, let's get you out." She gives Felina a pointed look, who smirks behind her mask, covering her eyes with her hands.

Rosie activates the table lift and hauls Razor out of the tub, covering him with a dry bath blanket. Rosie was an old hand at this and has him wrapped up in a moment. "Okay Lieutenant my modesty is intact," Razor says wryly.

"I think protecting my innocent mind is her bigger concern," Felina says sweetly.

Rosie sniffs a tad prissily but keeps her mind on her work. She carefully dries the burns before applying ointment and clean dressings.

"Your hands are looking a lot better," Felina murmurs, and Razor holds them up.

Rosie nods. "Yes, the blisters are almost all down, on all your burns 'cept the leg. We'll keep them wrapped yet but they won't need the debridement again," she states, and cuts a piece of tape.

"Great, no more of this crud," Razor grins.

"In a day or two" Rosie cautions. "After you get the skin graft to your leg, then no more soaks."

"Eh. Guess I'll put up with it huh? Lieutenant, your Uncle still camped out with T-Bone?" Razor asks, already knowing the answer.

Felina nods, absently patting down a wrinkle in the sleeve of her isolation garb. "This morning he left for a bit and got in some sleep. But he's back now."

Razor shakes his head, wondering what's happened in this crazy life for Feral to become a nursemaid. 'It should be me down there, with him. Not Feral,' he thinks to himself. "I still don't understand why he's doing it but… I appreciate it."

She shrugs idly. "I don't think he'd appreciate it being said aloud, but I'm sure he knows."

Four days previous, the Turbokat had been struck by a missile. Razor's partner T-Bone was thrown out of the cockpit and was now in the ICU. He hadn't woke up since the blast. Razor was allowed to see him that night, then he'd been trapped in the burn unit ever since. "Infection control" they called it. So he had to get his updates on T-Bone second hand. Third hand, sometimes. He was demanding frequent updates. That wasn't the same as being with him, but they all told him there hadn't been much change. He'd admit that Feral was taking his promise to 'stay with T-Bone' seriously. He'd barely left the ICU, and Felina reported that she'd walked in on his reading the newspaper aloud to him.

Talk pauses a moment as Rosie finishes the bandaging and while Felina obediently covers her eyes again she gets Razor dressed in sleep pants Callie had brought in, and another stupid open-butt hospital gown, with the help of his walker.

Razor had had a fit when he found out he was expected to use a walker. Along with the burns he'd fractured his pelvis during the impact. And since he couldn't put full weight on his legs with the fracture, he needed something to hold on to. But crutches weren't possible with the hand burns.

So the walker had these stupid little cushioned platform things above the handles. He has to lay his forearms in them and lean on those. Take a mincing step. Then push the walker forward, awkward when you're having trouble gripping anything. It took forever to go ten feet.

And yes the burns hurt, but the broken pelvis was an entirely different pain. Kind of one of those 'I didn't know I used that muscle' sort of things. And -everything- hurt. Coughing, turning, standing, sitting, taking the irritating deep breaths the RT was so fond of.

"Hunched old crab-Kat" he mutters, finally settled into the wheelchair. Rosie snorts back a laugh and Felina grabs the walker, both the she-Kats discussing their upcoming Friday plans, Rosie pushing Razor's chair.

They pick up the two Enforcer guards outside in the hall. Megakat Memorial has been swarming with them since the two vigilantes were admitted. Feral had ICU and the burn unit practically on lockdown. He'd gone so far as to get administration to restrict the staff allowed to work with the boys. He claimed it was to protect the SWAT Kats from unscrupulous staff and curious katizens who would try to unmask them. Felina admitted quietly to Razor that he also suspected someone might try to finish him and T-Bone off. It was a sobering thought. The whole city knew they were in there. The hospital had had to put up six tables in the main foyer for all the flowers, balloons, get well cards, stuffed animals, toy jets, and kittens scribbles and drawings that'd come addressed to T-Bone and Razor, the Swat Kats. This would be the perfect time for one of their old problems to show up, and Razor didn't have a lot of faith in Feral's ability to handle the problem.

And Felina... He glances slightly at her, unnoticed as she's describing the movie night she's planned. She'd called him 'Jake', that first day. Called T-Bone 'Chance'. She knew who they were. When had that happened? And since that startling comment she'd been entirely close lipped. He'd tried to bring it up to her but she always changed the subject, or left, pleading Enforcer business.

He'd almost convinced himself that he'd dreamed up the whole thing. Though he wanted suddenly for her to be trusted with their secret. But that was distinctly a risk, with Feral her uncle.

It takes maneuvering for Razor to get back in the bed, then his nurse Jamue is showing up with a dose of pain meds he's more than ready for, and Rosie changes the dressing in the PICC line disappearing inside his arm. Then she attaches new IV fluids, antibiotics and a "chaser" of saline as Jamue dryly calls it. She still insists he wear some oxygen when he's asleep. His cough from the smoke inhalation was still problematic and it was worse when he laid down. He'd learned swiftly these ladies knew what they were talking about. He only hoped T-Bone was getting care half as good.

"Alright Razor, I've got to head out," Felina calls from near the door. She was pulling off the paper gown and booties and throwing them into a waste receptacle. "I've got a chopper patrol shift starting in 45 minutes." She heads out the door calling "take a nap, and that's an order" over her shoulder, causing Razor to grin.

"That Miss Feral, she is soooooo sweet. Coming every day and all," Jamue says, eyeing Razor as she places the call light within his reach.

"Awww, Jamue, It's not like that," he mumbles, ears back. "Give it a rest."

Rosie grins as she finishes a clear dressing over the PICC site and gathers up the trash before starting out.

His nurse laughs and follows Rosie. "Call if you need something, hero."

He'd slept almost two hours when a tapping outside the window and a familiar voice jolts him fully awake. "Gee Mac, I dunno about this. There's Enforcers all over this building!"

"Aaaaaaah, don't be such a sissy, it's poifect! We can take 'em both out, right from under Feral's nose. Hey, hold up a second. I see a open window. Lemme go take a look around."

"What, and just leave me out here?!"

"What's your problem?"

"I ain't gonna stay perched out here like a boid!"

"You have got to be kidding me," Razor murmured, slipping out of the bed. The IV clipped into the PICC was difficult to disconnect one handed, but he managed it. He grabbed the walker and hurried, well, sort of, to the window. It took the entirety of the Metallikat's argument for him to even get around the bed.

Step by painfully slow step he gets closer, hearing a distant "Found a computer terminal! Lemme get room numbers. Heeeeeey, dis'll be like takin' candy from a kitten."

"Yeah, yeah, big talk. Lemme at dem SWAT Kats den."

'She's right outside the window,' Razor realizes, eyes wide. "Well here goes nothing" he whispers, then shoves the partially open window wider with his forearms and sticks his head out. He comes face to face with Molly Mange, or her head anyway, perched on spindly legs. She's right below his window on a ledge.

"Woah! Mac!" she shouts, starting to scramble away. "There's one right-"

Unfortunately for Molly, Razor snatches at her and she loses her grip, starting to tumble end over end towards the ground. "...heeeeeeeeeeere…" she shouts, before making an impressive crash landing on pavement.

Two stories below, Mac's disembodied head taps its way out of a window, looking around. "Molly?!" He gasps, looking down at her then up to where she was last perched. He does a small jig of anger. "You'll pay for that, SWAT Kat! Molly, Molly, speak to me!" he shouts down at the inert metallic form.

Razor glances over at the bedside table, where he'd hidden his Glovatrix. Callie Briggs had snuck it to him and he'd felt a lot better having it on hand. But it was an impossibly far six feet out of reach. He pokes his head back outside, spotting Mac making his way back through the open window two stories down.

"So long, SWAT Kat! I'll just go pay your friend a little hospital call! Aaaahahahahah!"

"NO!" Razor shouts, then starts to turn and hobble towards the bedside table. He fumbles it open and grabs the Glovatrix, tucking it under his arm before turning back to make his way back around the bed. "Got to get to T-Bone before Mac does!," he gasps, taking too big of a step and toppling forwards to hit the ground with a clatter. Blinding white hot pain erupts in his low back and belly and he screams. When he opens his eyes he's surrounded by nurses and his Enforcer guards, with Jamue crouching next to him. "T-Bone!" he gasps, trying to raise himself up on his forearms. "The Metallikats are going after T-Bone!"

There's a shocked silence for a moment then a red-headed nurse speaks up. "The Metallikats are deactivated," she says dubiously.

"I saw them! Or their heads, anyway!" Razor snaps, the nurses glancing at each other. "Look outside!"

A guard, a grey tabby fellow called Barry, goes to the window and sticks his head out. "...There ain't nobody down there," he reports, but pulls out his radio.

"Think he's hallucinating?" the red-head asks Jamue bluntly.

Razor stares at her, starting to get his knee under himself. "What is wrong with you people?! My buddy's in danger!"

"Razor, just, calm down," Jamue says, placing her hand on his shoulder. "It's possible you're reacting to the pain meds-"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Razor shouts.

"Don't you raise your voice!" Nurse Redhead starts to lecture him on various items, such as proper respect towards the staff, his 'duty' as she puts it to follow a 'patients code of honor', and other sundry malarkey. Jamue looks distinctly uncomfortable and Barry is tugging at his collar to loosen it. Razor is just about to tell her where she can shove her precious code of honor when there's a commotion at the door.

"What's going on?!" Feral barks, stalking into the room. He's in his shirt sleeves, hand on his shoulder holster and looking around like he expects to see the Pastmaster swinging from the light fixture.

"Look," Razor says, through gritted teeth. He shifts until he's sitting on the floor rather than flat out on his face. "I'm not hallucinating. I'm not dreaming. And I'm not crazy. I -saw- them, and Mac's heading for ICU. Feral, you've got to believe me!"

Feral frowns for a long moment, then points at Barry, who'd radioed him. "Sgt. Bagheera! Stay here. Don't let the SWAT Kat out of your sight. The rest of you, follow me!" He turns and stalks out of the room, palming his radio which crackles to life. "All Enforcers on hospital duty, converge on ICU! And be on the lookout for Mac and Molly Mange, the Metallikats! Prepare for hostilities!"

Razor looks around. "Well?! Help me up!" he snaps, impatiently.

Jamue raises her eyebrow at him and places her hands on her hips. "You have NO idea how much paperwork I have to do when there's a fall, do you?" Jamue asks. They still don't help him up until they fuss at him with a blood pressure reading and carefully check for injuries. Then between her and Nurse Witch-with-a-B Redhead they get him to his feet again, and balanced with the walker. Nurse Witch spots the IV pump, which had merrily continued to administer antibiotics to the floor in Razor's absence. She shuts it down and throws a couple towels over the puddle, complaining about all the mess and waste and how inconsiderate he was and 'if he were my patient...' She finally stalks out of the room obviously in a snit.

"Alright, now sit!" Jamue says, pointing at the chair next to the bed. "I know what you're planning, but if you go you're just going to be in the way. You're not exactly at your best," Jamue points out.

"Gee, you think?," Razor replies. "But it doesn't matter! I'm not going to sit on my tail while the Metallikats are running around the hospital! Even if they weren't heading for T-Bone, someone has to stop them."

"Excuse me," Sgt. Bagheera interrupts, reaching up to adjust his cap. "But, didn't you say it was just their heads? What're they gonna do? I'm sure the Commander can handle them." He leans down and grabs up the Glovatrix from the floor, setting it on the overbed table.

"But... but who knows what the Metallikats have planned?" Razor growls. "Look. I'm alright. Can you just go? I need some time to think."

Jamue 's hands were firmly planted on her hips and she eyes him suspiciously. And points at Barry. "Don't let him do anything stupid! You just relax, alright hero? Let the Enforcers do their thing."

"Yeah, sure" he replies, trying to settle stiffly into the chair. The nurses finally stalk out and Razor straightens back up to his feet with a hiss of pain. He looks pointedly at Sgt. Bagheera. "Well? You gonna help me or not, Barry?" he asks.

"What?! Nuh uh. Don't you involve me in this!" he says, looking alarmed. "I don't want to be court martialed."

Then faintly, they hear it. An explosion. Barry rushes to the window and looks out, but after looking all about he shakes his head negatively. "Don't know where it was. ICU is on the opposite side though," he says darkly.

Razor tucks the trailing ends of the hospital gown inside his sleep pants and tightens the string.

Barry pulls his head back through the window and eyes Razor, who is trying to fit his Glovatrix over the bandages on his right hand. "You just don't quit do you?"

"Nope. Well, here goes nothing" Razor mutters, and tries taking a step without the walker. He makes a rather odd noise, and grabs at the walker desperately, but he manages the step. Sorta. Barry rushes over to steady him until he gets his balance back.

"There's no way you're going to…" Barry's lecture is interrupted by another explosion, a little louder, and the fire alarm begins to wail.

"Alright, that's it!" Razor hobbles to the wheelchair, getting settled. "I'm going whether you help me or not," he says firmly.

"The Commander's going to have me shot…." Barry grumbles. "This is gonna get my badge melted down… goodbye pension…"

Razor grins as Barry hands him his rifle, folds up the walker, and grabs the wheelchair handles. "Just look at it this way, Barry. They can't expect you to stay inside during a fire."

Barry glowers at him and slips his arm through the bars of the walker, hanging it over his shoulder.

Out in the hall it's a bit of semi-organized chaos. Nurses are moving patients out of rooms, and Barry pushes Razor down the hall, past the elevators which have already been shut down. They travel until they're on the skywalk to the main building, crossing a courtyard made by three sections of the hospital with the fourth side open to the parking lot. "Hey, look" Razor says, pointing out the window at a plume of smoke.

"Think that's the cafeteria. Could just be a coincidence and they've got a grease fire…" Barry muses.

Razor shakes his head. "Doubt it."

Barry pauses, staring at something. "Uh. Hard Drive is in AlKatraz, isn't he?"

"Yeah, why?" Razor looks up at him. They had paused right in front of a fire escape window.

"Good, then that can't be him I see on that A/C unit."

"What?!" Razor spots him and stares out at the familiar figure in the coat, with a wreath of lightning in his hands.

The overhead lights flicker and start to fade out. Razor and Barry glance up. "Oh no... That's going to affect the life support systems in ICU," Razor says.

"Hospitals got generators, if he don't short those too. What's Hard Drive got to do with this?" Barry asks.

Razor shrugs. "It's probably a distraction tactic but… crud, help me out here Barry." Barry helps him to his feet and shoves the window up. Razor leans on the sill and with difficulty he leans out, aiming his Glovatrix. "Range is pretty far…." he murmurs. A couple Mini-Megatons go flying towards Hard Drive, but fall short.

The bad kat is startled, glancing back towards them. "A SWAT Kat! Forget it, I'm not that easy to stop!" He cackles wildly and Razor yelps a "Look out!" as energy arcs towards the skyway. Barry drags him away from the window and the two crouch as plaster and lighting fixtures rain down from the ceiling, and they smell a hot, metallic burning of the wiring shorting out. Wires hang down among the rubble.

Razor squints one eye open, glancing up. "...Where is he?"

Barry jumps up and peers out the window. "I don't see… THERE HE IS!" he snarls and shoulders his weapon, sighting. He takes three shots in quick succession, and says a filthy word. He quickly helps Razor back to his feet, who leans against the sill staring outside again.

"Looks like he's gone... where'd he go now?"

"Wait a second… he jumped down but I'm not sure where…" Barry has his gun at the ready, watching the courtyard.

"Better get down there and finish him off... Well, if he's still there. Need to check it out anyway." Razor raises the Glovatrix and aims it at a light pole in the courtyard, sends out the grappling hook, and tugs experimentally, but makes a sour face. "I don't think I can risk supporting my own weight much less us both."

"Us both who?! I ain't a spider," Barry retorts. Razor looks upwards as Enforcer choppers come into view.

"SURPRISE!" Hard Drive is suddenly right behind them, laughing like the maniac he is. "Naughty, naughty, Sergeant, playing with guns!" He throws an arc of electric. Barry yelps as the weapon in his hands starts to crackle and he tosses it away frantically.

"Crud!" Razor shouts, and Hard Drive is thwacked in the face with cement from the mini cement launchers on his Glovatrix.

"That won't save you, SWAT Kat!" Hard Drive threatens, clawing cement away from his face. "Pffth! Hey, this is affecting my suit!" he shouts.

"That'd be because cement is non-conductive," Razor replies. He releases a veritable barrage of cement at Hard Drive, who awkwardly scatters to crouch behind some fallen duct work.

"Absolutely unbelievable!" Hard Drive snarls as he tries to scrape wet cement from his surge suit, before the specially treated substance hardens.

Razor quickly is removing the Glovatrix from his hand. "We gotta get out of here fast! And I've got an idea that's just crazy enough to work!" he says brightly.

"This is the damn dumbest stupidest thing I've ever done." Barry grumbles. He's seated on the windowsill, Glovatrix now on his hand. Razor is clinging to his back. "You got a better plan?"

"No!" He grumbles, and pushes off from the window. They swing wildly towards the courtyard below, Barry hollering "AAAAAAAAAAHH THIS IS IDIOTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!"

At a right angle to the skywalk was the outer wall of another section of the hospital, laced with fire escape railings. They swing towards a section and Razor makes a grab but misses as a bolt of electricity flies past his head. They begin swinging back towards the skywalk.

"Forget about me, SWAT Kat?! Haaaahahahahah!" Hard Drive sends wild shots of electric power towards them. Barry yelps as his tail is zapped. Razor's grip slips and he goes to the ground, a drop of only four or five feet that normally, the agile SWAT Kat would have had no trouble with. However this time his intended roll is more of a skidded belly flop into the dust.

Barry is still hollering as he swings like a pendulum back the other way, his hat flying away to land on a bird feeder.

Hard Drive laughs. "Ahh, The Metallikats assured me that this would be worth my while! I'd say destroying a SWAT Kat qualifies!" He pulls out an arc of electric, preparing to throw. But a burst of fire from an Enforcer chopper splits the air, throwing up drywall dust and shattering glass as the rounds pierce the skywalk walls. "Another time, SWAT Kat!" The bad kat disappears down a wire.

Barry tumbles into a hydrangea bush, sinking in head first with his legs kicking the air. Razor is curled on the ground where he landed, panting for breath. "Okay… this…. isn't working…." he mutters, face in the dirt.

The Enforcer chopper hovers overhead, and over the rotors Razor can barely hear the sound of a winch. He glances up and spots Felina, hanging on a rope ladder and moving downwards. Great. He tries to grin confidently at her as she hits the ground and stalks towards him. "You are one idiot!" she shouts back, then waves the chopper off.

"Yeah well…. you want to go pull Barry out of the bushes?"

"I'm right here," Barry says irritably, walking a little crooked and brushing twigs and flower petals out of his fur.

"Of all the stupid stunts!" Felina seems entirely exasperated with them both, and crouches down next to Razor. "You're bleeding" she says shortly, noting the red blooming through the cloth.

"Yeah, I can feel it. Rosie will kill me," he adds.

He's helped to his feet and Felina and Barry just lock their arms and chair carry him, despite his grumbles. "Any sign of Mac and Mollie?" Razor asks.

Felina shakes her head. "Not Mac, but they found Molly, she'd wriggled or crawled or whatever under a bush. She's out of the game anyway. Hard Drive killed most of the power. Speaking of, ARE YOU GUYS SUICIDAL?!"

"Hey, we had to try to get him!" Razor says defensively.

"We didn't neither have to do no such thing," Barry mutters.

Razor ignores him. "Where we headed?"

"There's a staging area in the parking lot. They're evacuating patients there," Felina replies.

"What about T-Bone?" Razor asks. "They're evacuating ICU, too, but it takes a lot longer."

Exiting the courtyard, they can see the chaos. Ambulances are lined up taking on wheelchairs and gurneys. Personal vehicles and a school bus are being loaded with patients that can walk. The Enforcers have the parking lot cordoned off and a squad of Kats in riot gear are running into the main entrance.

"Johnny, get a shot of that!"

"Oh no…" Felina grumbles, as Ann Gora and her cameraman rush towards them.

"This is Ann Gora of Kats Eye News, hoping for an exclusive interview with..."

Barry turns a little, trying to block Johnny's line of sight. "Hey lay off, he's having a rough day," he growls, as Johnny backs away hurriedly. He's still filming though as an EMT waves them over to the fire marshal's pickup truck. Razor is settled on the tailgate and the medic tries to get a look at the wound under the sleep pants.

"Ew..." He mutters, and grabs a roll of cotton gauze. A ragged tear in the skin curls back from the edge of the burnt tissue. Basically the only unburnt part of his calf is now a bloody mess, and the dressing Rosie had placed earlier was soaked through with thin, pink tinged drainage, and speckled with dirt. In fact most of his bandages were soaking through. The EMT quickly wraps it thickly in gauze, and then starts adding layers of gauze to his hands. He glances up. "You alright? You look kinda green, there."

"Yeah, well, sorta. I think I may barf," Razor replies weakly.

The medic is out of the line of fire in a hurry, and says something about finding a 'barf bucket'.

Razor hears a shout, and then a loud thud. When next he opens his eyes, Callie is upside down above him, with her gold hair framed in the blue sky. He's laying in the truck bed and Barry is holding an IV up. The EMT from before and a paramedic are peering at the readout on a B/P cuff.

"What happened?" Razor mutters.

"You passed out. Hy-parvo-something," Barry replies.

"Hypovolemia," says the paramedic, reaching to fiddle with the IV attached to Razor's PICC.

"Yeah, what he said," says Barry.

"Oh. Just what I needed," he states, then realizes the reason Callie appears upside down is because his head is being cradled in her lap. He flushes and his ears go back in embarrassment. "Ms. Briggs, I- I'm sorry!" he stammers, and her cheeks pink up prettily.

"Really, Razor, it's no big deal. Just lay still" she adds.

'But it's a big deal to me' he thinks to himself. "Uh... They find Mac?" he asks.

Callie shakes her head. "Not yet. Hard Drive, he's out near Megakat Springs causing havoc, but Commander Feral thinks he's just creating a distraction."

"T-Bone?"

"Still in ICU. Which they have surrounded."

He stares at her. "They haven't evacuated yet?!"

She shakes her head, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Without knowing where Mac is and with Hard Drive on the loose, Commander Feral thinks if they evacuate now they could walk straight into a trap."

Razor nods slightly. "Yeah, but when they do show..." His eyes suddenly go wide. "The air ducts. Hard Drive was on the A/C unit. Barry!" he shouts, struggling to sit up, "Mac's in the air ducts!" He gets an odd expression for a moment, then his eyes roll back and he flops back into Callie's lap. The paramedic says a dirty string of words and directs the EMT to raise Razors' legs while he checks the B/P again.

"Oh no, Razor," Callie says worriedly, her hand stroking his cheek. "What could he have meant?" she asks, looking up at Barry.

He shakes his head, expression puzzled. "I don't know, I...oh. Oh yes I do know." His eyes suddenly go wide, he tosses the IV at Callie and practically flies out of the truck bed. "Sergeant?!" Callie calls after him, startled, but he's off like a shot.

Barry runs like he's being chased by all the bats out of Hades across the lot, shouting "Commander!" as he approaches.

Feral looks up, frowning. "What are you bellowing about, Sergeant?"

"Sir," Barry gasps, "the air ducts. The AIR DUCTS! Mac Mange…" He was puffing mightily for air..

Feral raises an eyebrow at him. "Where'd you come up with that ridiculous..." Then he stops, seeming to ponder. "Hmmm... FELINA!" He shouts.

A few minutes later, the ICU is fairly quiet in T-Bone's room, where a still figure lays in the bed, with his head entirely swathed in bandages. A screw twists bit by bit inside the frame of a vent in the air conditioning duct, and finally it falls to the ground with a tinkling sound. There's a red glow through the hole for a split moment and then another screw begins twisting and eventually falls to the ground as well. The third follows and then the vent cover pops outward a bit, just enough that it can be pivoted away on the remaining screw.

Mac creeps to the opening to peer down at the bed and grins with pleasure. "Poifect, he's a sitting duck. Wish Molly could see this. Poor Mol, I'm gonna go back and get that other SWAT Kat good," he growls. "But this is too easy! " He leaps from the duct onto the foot of the bed, and tappity taps his way to the head. He raises a foreleg, the light glinting off the sharp metal tip as he aims to plunge it into an eye. "Say goodnight, SWAT Kat!"


	3. Chapter 3

((I want to thank all of you for being so kind and supportive of this first effort of mine. I am so very pleased people are enjoying this fic. Please comment how you like this chapter.))

((SWAT Kats are property of Hannah-Barbera and are used without permission. Various named and unnamed OCs that do not appear in the cartoons are owned by me.))

A few minutes later, the ICU is fairly quiet in T-Bone's room, where a still figure lays in the bed with his head entirely swathed in bandages. A screw twists bit by bit inside the frame of a vent in the air conditioning duct, and finally it falls to the ground with a tinkling sound. There's a red glow through the hole for a split moment and then another screw begins twisting and eventually falls to the ground as well. The third follows and then the vent cover pops outward a bit, just enough that it can be pivoted away on the remaining screw.

Mac creeps to the opening to peer down at the bed and grins with pleasure. "Poifect, he's a sitting duck. Wish Molly could see this. Poor Mol, I'm gonna go back and get that other SWAT Kat good," he growls. "But this is too easy! " He leaps from the duct onto the foot of the bed, and tappity taps his way to the head. He raises a foreleg, the light glinting off the sharp metal tip as he aims to plunge it into an eye. "Say goodnight, SWAT Kat!"

"Hold it right there, you're under arrest!" Felina kicks the bathroom door wide open, with a weapon in hand. "I've got you right in my sights, Mange. Don't move!"

Mac looks around, his leg still poised. "Oh yeah? You can't shoot me without risking shootin' yer friend here. Looks like we're at an impasse, Loo-tenant!"

"Not quite Mange!" booms a familiar voice from very near.

"Huh?!" Mac looks around and then yelps as an arm snatches him by the leg, and he's held aloft as the formerly prone figure in the bed jumps up spryly. He quickly unwraps the bandages obscuring his face.

"Feral!?" Mac shouts. "What're you doin' in here?"

"Fortunately one of my Enforcers correctly ascertained where you could be hiding! Felina, the neural neutralizer!" he says, holding Mac out.

"Got it, Uncle,' Felina replies, aiming with Professor Hackle's invention.

"Oh no, not this time!" Mac snarls, and Feral's wrist and hand are pierced by Mac's legs. He lets go reflexively and Mac drops, trying to scatter under the bed. Feral swings at him with his baton ((Alright, I'm sorry, but it is a baton? Or a cane or what is that stick with the pommel?)) and misses, lurching forward and trying to look under the bed. Mac suddenly scrambles out the other side, and jumps. He's boosted by the rocket in his base straight into Felina's face, smack in the eye. Felina yelps, knocked backwards. Her arm flies outwards and the neural neutralizer impacts the wall with a "crack" and a few green sparks.

Mac lands lightly and takes off out the door. "After him!" Feral shouts, racing behind. There's a rush of Enforcers down the hall, but too far away to catch the fleeing Metallikat. "You idiots! Where were you?!" he shouts, eyebrows raising when Steele steps forward.

"I uh, had them fall back sir, I didn't want…"

"IMBECILE!" Feral roars. "I'll deal with you later. After him, men!" He pauses though, turning back and trying to help Felina up.

"Uncle, I have an idea of where we should look for Mac next…"

Mac wastes no time in charging deeper into the ICU, and down a back hallway. "Stupid Feral. Hard Drive musta flaked off somewhere if he had time to come lookin' for me," he snarls, peering around a corner. There was a heavy fire door at the end of the hall, and a dark room with the door barely cracked open. He was eyeing a window when a crash and hushed voices gains his attention. However, there's also the echoing of boots rushing down the hall. Looking around swiftly, he jumps into a convenient waste receptacle and burrows down.

"This way men! He must have gotten the fire doors open somehow!" Feral shouts, as they run past. Mac remains crouched in the tissues and candy wrappers, listening. But his eyebrow raises as he hears another clattering and female voices.

"Sir! T-Bone, stop fighting. Alright? You're safe… do we have any midazolam?"

"Sshhhhh... Quiet. I don't know, I don't see any."

His lip curls and he cautiously exits the trash can, with a banana peel perched jauntily atop his head until he shakes it off. He creeps to the doorway and peers cautiously though the gap.

"Rita, watch his claws! He's trying to get the restraints."

"Can anybody get to pharmacy for some midazolam?"

"Are you kidding? He needs haldol," says an irritated voice and there's another clattering noise.

Mac glances around the room, which was some sort of storage, with a couple ICU beds crammed inside. It looked like two of the occupants of the ICU hadn't gone far. Either they'd not had time to move them or they were too fragile for it. Mac quickly slips behind a box, watching. The lights were out in the room, through the silenced monitors were shedding a green glow. But all the action centered around one bed, where three nurses were fighting with a burly yellow striped tom cat, trying to keep him from shredding them or the restraints with his claws. A fourth young nurse runs out another door. The third nurse, a hard faced brunette, reaches over and slaps a button on the ventilator which stops chugging.

The SWAT Kat's struggles become weaker and the panic in his eyes increases ten fold. Mac winces, almost feeling sorry for the poor slob. The other two nurses are staring at the brunette in shock. "Turn that back on!" the blonde gasps, letting go of the SWAT Kat's wrist and slapping the vent controls. The ventilator hisses back into life and T-Bone's chest shudders.

"What the hell was that? Have you lost your mind?!" she hisses, just as the young nurse creeps back in.

"It worked didn't it?" the brunette asks. "Rita, hurry up with that mido."

Unfortunately, right on the returning nurses tail is Feral, with a hasty wrap of gauze around his hand and wrist. "How is he doing," he asks, realizing by the tension in the room something isn't quite right. T-Bone's head turns slightly and dull eyes watch the Commander. "He's awake?" he asks, with surprise.

"Well, he is, but he's also confused, and fighting the vent. You know, Mel, the vent?" she says sarcastically, eyeing her colleague. "The thing that breathes for him?"

The nurse who'd shut it down rolls her eyes.

The young nurse is slipping a needle into T-Bone's IV. Feral steps forward, looking down at T-Bone, who is staring back at him with very little recognition. "Commander, did you catch the Metallicat?" The young nurse asks, all breathless.

Feral glances up as Felina slips into the room, the side of her face starting to swell. "We haven't found him, Uncle."

"Blast!" Feral shouts, pounding the wall with his fist. T-Bone jumps a little, eyes widening, and at that wakeup call is appearing a bit more alert. "We can't stay here any longer. Mange could be anywhere. I'm sorry ladies, but we need to evacuate, now," he says firmly.

The blonde nurse sighs. "Right. Mel, you get the vent, I'll get the IV pole…"

"Why don't you guys take the other patient first? I'll stay here with T-Bone," Felina offers.

The blonde quirks an eyebrow. "What if something happens?"

"Well, you won't be gone that long will you? Besides, maybe I can calm him down for you."

"Probably. He's got some midazolam in him now so he won't have so much anxiety about the vent." The nurses scurry around, and it does take all four of them to move the other patient's bed, the vent, and all the other myriad equipment. Feral steps out into the hall, directing the Enforcers to guard them and help.

Felina slips over to T-Bone, who tenses, his claws still out. She grabs a tissue from a box on a shelf and reaches to gently blot tears away from his cheeks. "Hey, Chance," she says softly. His ears prick and he looks at her, expression faintly puzzled. "I know you must be confused, and hurting but…bet you're worried about your partner. Jake is alive," she says, Both his ears prick up, and he blinks slowly. "Yeah, that's right. Jake's fine, and you're going to be fine," she says, and pulls a chair over with her foot and sits. She takes his hand in hers, his claws retract and his fingers curl gently around her hand. "You guys had an accident, but everything's going to be okay." She places her other hand on his shoulder.

"Well well well isn't this touching?" Mac jeers, tapping his way out of his hiding place.

Felina jumps to her feet, pointing the neural neutralizer at him. "Freeze!" she shouts, then pulls the trigger. The gun makes a wheeeeeze-click and shoots a couple green sparks.

"Hah! I thought so!" he crows triumphantly. "Outta the way, toots! Me'n the grease monkey got some unfinished business."

Felina grabs at her radio. "I need Enforcer ba-augh!" Felina ducks but not quite enough as Mac busts her in the face again, knocking her to the floor. She crumples there, coughing and spitting out a tooth.

"Hah! Now lemme see, dis shuts it off…" He glances at T-Bone who is watching him with glittering eyes. "Goodbye, SWAT Kat," he laughs, tapping at the vent controls. It powers down and T-Bone's chest stops moving. "I'm gonna enjoy watching you die," he taunts, then there's a heavy step from behind.

"Eh?!" he looks up, just in time to see Feral's baton come crashing down on his skull. The top of Mac's head caves in a bit and Feral gives him another three or four bashes for good measure.

The nurses rush in and one quickly powers the vent back up again. T-Bone's eyes close a moment, fists clenched as it kicks back in. "Ow," Felina mumbles, as Feral helps her to her feet. He looks at Mac with distaste, whose eyes are flickering red and legs moving feebly. "Good work Felina, you were right about him sneaking in here. Though it would have worked better had that neural neutralizer been up and running."

"Wow, Ungle. You weally cwobbered him!" Felina says with surprise.

Feral harrumphs and glances at T-Bone. "Well, SWAT Kat, looks like I get to save your tail for once," he says with sudden humor. T-Bone smiles faintly at him, around the tube in his mouth. "But we're not out of the woods yet," Feral adds. "Hard Drive is still on the loose."

"Don' worry, Ungle," Felina says, her cheek puffed out. She's buisily tucking some gauze into the gap in her teeth. "I goh a pwan."

"Razor?" Bright light interrupts the comfortable, dusky darkness he was floating in.

"Leamme 'lone," he mumbles, and he hears a feminine giggle.

"Wake up, hero." He squints his eyes open with an effort, eyeing Jamue who's leaning over him and fiddling with the leads on a EKG. He realizes next that he's laying on something soft and a hissing oxygen mask is fitted over his face. It takes him another moment to come to the conclusion that he's on the cot inside an ambulance. He can see that Barry and Callie are outside the open doors, peering in. And nothing seems to be exploding, on fire, or shooting at him. Having ascertained this, he closes his eyes again.

"Oh no you don't, hero," she says sharply and gives his shoulder a shake. "You gotta stay awake." His eyes slit open and she smiles at him. "There, that's better. Hey, they caught Mac!" she says, and that pricks his attention.

"Hey, his pressure is dropping," the EMT says quietly, and Jamue reaches over to twist the valve on the IV wide open.

"What is it?"

"88/40. He's got a temp too."

"Razor, anything hurting? Razor?" The paramedic jostles his shoulder and his eyes pop open again.

"Uh?"

"Anything hurt?"

"Hurt… oh… yeah. My stomach is killing me," he mutters.

Jamue's expression becomes more concerned and she reaches to gently palpate his abdomen. "Where at?" she asks, as he winces.

"All over. T-Bone?"

She nods. "He's fine, Mac didn't get to him. They just have to find Hard Dri- Hey. Razor? HEY!"

He'd started to smile at that welcome news, before his eyes had fluttered closed and his head lolled limply to the side. She reaches over and viciously rubs his sternum with her knuckles. Razor doesn't flinch.

"I can't find his pressure!" the EMT shouts, and all three of them stare in horror at the flat line on the heart monitor.


	4. Chapter 4

((SWAT Kats belongs to Hannah- Barbera and I do not own any of the trademarked characters nor am I profiting from this is any way, other than it's fun.))

((I'm sorry this is short. I'm working on wrapping this up soon. I posted something called A Chance To Die as well which is sort of set in the future of this… setting… whatever. But I haven't yet posted the end of it, though it's completed. It'll come out after A Chance to Live is over. I'm also soon to post another short story with ChancexFelina and JakexCallie.))

Feral was just climbing into a chopper with Felina when there's a squawking on the radio. "Commander! You wanted to know if anything changed with the SWAT Kats-"

"Yes Captain? Out with it!" Feral barks.

"Sir, Razor's being resuscitated right now. They're asking for permission to end the hospital evacuation, they want to move him and the other patients back in."

Startled, Feral stares at the radio in his hand. "I thought he was stable!" he barks.

"Yes sir, he was, I don't think they know-"

Feral cuts him off. "Fine, keep me advised. The evacuation is cancelled. Any other bright news to tell me?"

"N-no sir, Hard Drive is still at his last known location, sir!"

"Carry on then!"

"Ungle! Did I hear that right?" Felina asks with a look of shock on her face.

"Hmmmm, yes apparently there was more to that faint of his that you knew, Felina. But focus on the now. I hope this crazy idea of yours is going to work," Feral says with distaste, looking askance at the black gatling type gun that has been hastily retrofitted in place of one of the choppers own guns.

Felina shrugs. "Worked b'fore. I had dem take it off da Turbokat as soon as I saw Razor use his Glovatrix…"

"Yes, yes, I still don't like it. And you shouldn't be flying!" he snaps even as he's settling into a seat.

"It's just a toof, Ungle!" she says stubbornly.

"A tooth and being bashed in the face twice by that metallic menace. Any more lip out of you Lieutenant, and I'll have you grounded! Move out!" Feral radios, and the chopper rises up to join several others in the air. The chopper isn't up to it's top speeds with the bulky gun underneath, but soon enough they're out towards Megakat Springs, which seems strangely quiet. "Where is that little weasel…" Feral growls, looking downwards. A bolt of electricity suddenly jolts past and Felina cranks the stick, the chopper shooting sideways. Feral grabs up the loudspeaker. "Give yourself up, Hard Drive! Your accomplices failed and are deactivated!"

Hard Drive begins to laugh, standing on one chopper downed earlier. "Oh no, Commander, I don't think so! I've got a job to finish!"

"Are you that much of a COWARD, Hard Drive!?" Feral roars into the loudspeaker.

Felina is startled, glancing at him. "Ungle, wha-"

"Just watch for an opening. And get us closer, Felina," Feral hisses, hand over the microphone.

Hard Drive is taken aback, for once at a lost for witty sayings.

"You couldn't take them down when they were healthy, so you conspired to attack two toms on their sick beds?" he asks, putting all the loathing possible into those biting words. "What kind of kat are you, you criminal scum?" Feral derides him further, and there is the tiniest, slightest moment of hesitation and uncertainty on the face of the bad Kat.

"NOW FELINA!" Feral roars, as Felina pushes the chopper into a near dive. The tiny hesitation was enough to give Feral an edge, and Hard Drive is plastered head to toe in cement. Feral keeps up the barrage until there's nothing left of Hard Drive but a quivering blob. Feral leaps out of the chopper before it's fully set down and approaches the quickly hardening cement cautiously. "Nobody touch it!" he snaps, as someone approaches with a pry bar.

"But sir! He's going to suffocate if we don't…"

"Hmph. I realise that, Sergeant. Still, let's not be in any rush. Call for medical transport."

The men surrounding stare at him, but he deliberately pulls his sleeve back from his watch and carefully notes the time.

"How'd you know insulting him like dat would work?" Felina asks.

"Simple. I didn't. I tried it and kept my fingers crossed."

Felina eyes the cement a moment. "Ungle, are you really just letting him suffocate?"

"His accomplice didn't seem to be bothered by using suffocation," Feral replies darkly. "I have very little pity for him right now. Besides, that gunk is the only thing keeping him from arcing into a wire and escaping."

Two and a half minutes later he calls out, "Break it down men!" and while it takes a little longer than anyone wanted, the cement cracks and out tumbles a gasping, barely conscious Hard Drive. His surge coat is swiftly pulled off and the bad kat is cuffed even as oxygen is settled over his muzzle.

"Good work men! Someone put that coat into a lock box and put it on a separate chopper. We're taking no chances!" Feral growls. He picks up his radio and shouts into it. "The threats have been neutralized," he says, pride in his voice.

"Sir? I think you should come back to the hospital…"

"Doctor, please, can't you do something?!" the Deputy Mayor asks, fear in her voice.

"I am! But I don't have any experience in ER medicine," he says, frantically.

"You're the only MD here!" snaps Jamue. "So you gotta do something!"

"I am aware of that fact! Where is Dr. Bast?! Alright, what's his pressure now?"

"Dropping. 72/30, maybe. Pulse is 130s and thready."

"Keep bagging him, you've got good air movement."

"I can't find pedal pulses."

"Oh come on, he's bleeding somewhere, this is obvious!" the paramedic snaps.

"Uhm…I know. Keep running in fluids. Anyone get ahold of radiology yet?"

"I keep calling everybody in my cell phone, but nobody's responding."

"People had better start showing up. We need surgery, we need radiology, we need an anesthetist…" the frantic MD is counting off on his fingers. "I can't do anything with this! I'm not a surgeon, I'm not even family practice!"

Behind him there is a heavy step and a sharply spoken, accented "Vhat is this?"

The skinny, blonde MD turns and his face lights up in delight at the sight of a short, squat woman in a well made suit with a scarf around her neck. "Dr. Fisch, thank the stars! HELP!"

She blinks at him. "Hoh no, I am retired! You're not roping me into... Vait, vhy are you here? You're in the wrong department, Stripington! Vhere is Dr. Bast?" she asks, and looks at the scene in front of her with a spark of interest in her eyes.

"Uhm well I don't know what to do… Don't look at me like that, Wilhelmina, I'm a dermatologist!" Dr. Stripington says, defensively. "He's got internal bleeding, I think." The paramedic gives him a scornful look, which Dr. Fisch catches.

"Unt so? You cannot manage a little emehrgency? Vhere did you get your MD? Out of the Cracker Jack box?" Her experienced gaze takes in the monitors, the IVs hanging, the frustrated expressions of the staff. She sighs and walks over to rip Razor's gown up, prodding at his belly, which is tight, and when she parts the fur the skin is the color of bruising. "Vell I vill agree vit your diagnosis," she exclaims. "Vhat's been done?"

"Fluids."

"...Fluids? Unt vhat?"

"That's it?"

"Zo he has a belly full of blood and saline, fantastic," she snarls. "Vell, vhere is der zurgeon on call?!"

"We don't know."

"Bah! Hy am retired from de zurgery... Vell has zere event been unt x-rrray?"

"No, we can't find any rad techs…." Jamue says.

"DUMMKOPFS!" Her accent is getting thicker and thicker by the moment, and she grabs her cell phone. "YOU! You vill call efyvon in dis grrroup unt demant dey arrife at VONCE, YOU, find me unt Kat Scan tech, YOU, MOOF OUT OF MY VAY, YOU, hy remember you vas vonce unt zurgery nurse, you vill come vif me! SCHNELL!" There is a scramble and a flurry as staff rush everywhere, with Dr. Fisch still roaring at the top of her voice. For a rather diminutive, round female, she has an extremely commanding battle cry.

"Vhere are de anesthetists!? Hy vill do it myself if I haf to! Ve vill probably kill him but he is already dead vissout us meddlink, zo HURRY YUP! You cannot moof any faster?!"

The staff 'schnell' rather than get Dr. Fisch barking any louder, and the ER quiets considerably. Though one sound remains, of Ms. Briggs trying to control her sobbing.

"This is Ann Gora of Kats Eye News. We all watched in horror as brave medical personnel fought a valiant fight to save the life of the SWAT Kat known as Razor. They have now rushed him into Medikat Memorial, which is no longer being evacuated. Commander Ulysses Feral has pronounced the triple threat of the Metallikats and Hard Drive neutralized, the patients are being slowly brought back into the building. We've no updates on either SWAT Kat's conditions at the moment, but you will recall - wait, there's Commander Feral," she shouts. "Commander Feral!" Can you tell us-"

"No comment!" Feral shouts as he races past them and through the ER entrance. Felina is hot on his heels and they nearly knock Ms. Briggs over in the hall. She's wiping at her eyes and not watching where she's going.

"Ms. Briggs? I was told…" Feral starts, then hesitates. "I'm sorry, are you alright?" he asks rather gently.

She nods uneasily, wiping madly at her eyes. "He's bleeding inside. Razor. They said so… And there's no surgeon and there's nobody in the x-ray and…. it's a nightmare."

Felina looks around worriedly. "But he's alive?"

Callie nods. "They ran off to surgery right now, with an older retired doctor… oh. Sergeant Bagheera followed them."

"He takes his duty seriously, that one," Feral comments. "Come now Ms. Deputy Mayor, there's no use of sobbing… Er, Felina, why don't you take her to get some uh, coffee or something? You're assigned back here until further notice. I need to go clear up some loose ends about Hard Drive." Without further ado, Feral turns on his heel and stalks back out.

Callie sighs and kind of sinks into a chair. "I thought he was alright. I've been worried about T-Bone and here Razor is… Lieutenant Feral, what happened to your face?" she asks, noting the puffy cheek.

"Dat was Mac. Don't beat yourself up ober Razor, It's not anything you could of stopped," Felina replies. "He prob'ly got hurt worse dan any of us realized when he tangled with Hard Drive. Come on," she reaches over and touches the Deputy Mayor's shoulder. "Let's go find T-Bone. I've got something to show you that'll cheer you up, I think."


	5. Chapter 5 Chance's Blog Post

((I am sorry about the delay in posting in both Chance to Live and Chance to Die, but I keep rewriting. I am not happy with how to transition from here to the end. I actually have the end written out, kinda sorta. I can't figure out how to get to it though. I was trying to get something similar to the tone of the first chapter but it wasn't working out. I have rewritten about six times. I am determined to finish that fic though. So this is a Chance's POV blog from the blog that is Chance to Die))

((SWAT Kats belongs to Hannah-Barbera and I do not own any of the trademarked characters nor am I profiting from this in any way, other than it's fun.))

(Dear readers: This is an old post, guys - I pulled it up out of the blog archives as it's Aphasia Week again, and dated it to post today. You'll be seeing some retro posts popping up from time to time. - Jake Clawson, CEO Clawson Labs)

Mornin, people. Ol' T-Bone here, typing at you, 'stead of Jake. Or not typing actually, I'm using vocal software the Labs perfected just for me. I'm one of those hunt and peck typers so it sure is convenient to have a buncha geniuses (dare I say it? Nerds?) on your side.

Those of you who've read this blog for a long time are probably aware that after Dark Kat nearly did the two of us in with a missile strike I got my head pounded. (The first time Dark Kat hit us with a missile that was, the second time was the one that took Jake out of the SWAT Kat game permanently, but I digress.)

I have to think back I guess, and the memories aren't pretty. Talk about a personal, individual hell. And I wasn't as bad off as I coulda been.

I don't remember anything from probably, 2-3 days before the missile strike, until I started to wake up. Being on the vent was a weird, painful, unhappy period. Every breath was agony. I broke up my ribs in the accident. Well they pulverized them doing CPR. I was just vaguely aware enough to feel the vent exploding my chest with each breath, and it sure made life hell.

Stupid thing to complain about huh, when I'm alive right? I probably would of been more appreciative had I known I was alive.

I could hear what was going on around me when I was in the coma, but I didn't understand what most of it was. It was a cruddy combination.

Also I'd never been hurt like that before. Waking up in the ICU is…. weird. Especially when it's your first experience. You got no clue where you are, or why, and you feel like crud. There's weird noises and voices you don't recognize and you're confused. And you can't move because you're drugged and tied down so you don't rip out important things.

The 'ping ping bong bing bings' that all the monitors make are both enough to drive you crazy, and at the same time kinda soothing. They become a weird lullaby after listening long enough.

Sometimes some meter is alarming and the nurses are swearing at it, and you're laying there thinking 'what the hell is wrong?!' but it's not like anybody explains it to you. And you can't see it. So finally the beep booping gets more normal and you're still breathing (like you have any choice on a vent) so you figure you're living. That's about all you know. You just hang out til the next crisis.

If you ever have family or friends in ICU, try to remember they often can hear you. I heard and remember a surprising amount from during my coma. It's amazing what people will talk about in front of you. I learned more about one nurse's personal life than I would ever, ever have wanted. Yech. I'm glad I wasn't her ex.

I kept listening for people I knew and I was missing one very specific voice. My buddy Jake. I remember wondering why among all the other noises and voices, why couldn't I hear his? I heard (Deputy Mayor, at the time) Briggs, and Felina, and Commander Feral. Feral was there a lot.

Would you believe the Commander read a Louis LaMew novel to me? Hanging She-Kat Creek. It wasn't half bad, when his droning didn't put me to sleep.

Anyway I welcomed actual sleep. It dulled the pain and I didn't have to think about the obvious: If Jake's not here, something is wrong. And nobody says nothing. The whole time I'm listening for Jake. Didn't hear his voice once, and I got more and more worried.

Eventually people started mentioning him, and I at least knew he was alive, you know, but 'burn unit?' That's all I knew. "Razor says hi from the burn unit! Razor's doing good today, he walked twenty paces!"

What? I was out of my mind with frustration. Why was he on the burn unit? For that matter, what's a burn unit and where was I? I didn't remember any accident and still don't to this day, decades later. It was like being buried in a tomb of pain. Wow that sounds melodramatic. Anyway, I didn't understand cause NOBODY TELLS YOU NOTHING.

It wasn't til I really started waking up that people started talking to me. Well Felina, and Callie and Feral, they all talked like I was listening, but the weather outside and what new ordnance Manx is promoting isn't really what I wanted to know about. (Or how great the newest Enforcer pilot graduates are and how they're going to put the SWAT Kats outta business, thanks for that Commander.) Others had been talking at me before, right but, something changed once I was looking at them. They tried holding conversations with me rather than just yammering nonsense. They even told me what had happened. It helped when I had the "blink twice for yes, and once for no" thing down.

That still made it hard for me to get what I needed across. Being restrained and intubated is a lesson in frustration and patience. Not being able to scratch my nose when it itched, and all that. And how do you explain that with blinks? Feral was better at communicating with me than any of the others.

I think we bonded a little. It was bizarre.

Finally getting extubated was great. I -stretched- and it hurt and felt great at the same time. Coughing sucked, but I was breathing on my own at least. Doc Bengal was listening to my lungs and then my oxygen level tanked with all the coughing, and they fuddled around with whether to stick me on BiPap or not for a while but after I got on high flow oxygen I perked up.

I gave 'em all a thumbs up, and Callie was clapping and Felina whistled. First thing I did when I got enough breath was to ask about Jake.

It took me a moment to realize that what I said and what they heard were two different things. In my head, I knew I had the right words. But everybody was looking at me confused. I ripped off the oxygen mask they'd stuck on in case I coulda blamed that, and tried again, but got gibberish. Again I couldn't… figure out how to spit the words I wanted out. Like I couldn't get my tongue around it.

I completely lost it. Felina had me by the shoulders and Callie had my hands and I was being swarmed by nurses all of whom were pretty panicked themselves, trying to figure out why I was flipping out. I pulled my hand away from Callie and managed to scribble my finger in my palm, like I was writing. Dr. Bengal, who was the only person in the room not losing their cool, calmly handed over a script pad and pen.

So, I wrote "I can't talk!' down, and tried to show it to Callie. Who just looked… confused and maybe a little scared at that point. Then I looked at what I'd written. There were like, three random letters. And the word 'talk'. But I didn't get the K right.

Welcome to waking up with aphasia, blog readers. Probably some of you readers have known a relative who's had a stroke, and who couldn't get words out after, or had trouble finding the right word to use. Or maybe they didn't understand you anymore. Those are all different forms of what I had. Aphasia is a real common outcome of traumatic brain injuries(TBI) and strokes. This is National Aphasia Awareness Week and so since I'm rather uniquely qualified to discuss it, I'm gonna talk a bit more about it.

Trust me when I tell you from experience, that moment when you learn nobody understands you is one of the hardest things anyone will ever face. Maybe one of the worst parts about it is aphasia doesn't affect your intelligence. Well, something else from the TBI might. But just because a person with aphasia can't speak doesn't mean they're stupid but most people don't realize that. Now, remember, I didn't know any of that. I thought my brain musta turned into jelly.

I had never felt that level of panic. Except maybe this one time; I was drowning and Jake saved me. Or the time Viper tossed Razor off the roof of Megakat Towers. I saw him falling but I was right below in the Turbokat, and caught him.

Yeah maybe this panic was a whisker less. Maybe. But my eyes were filling up with tears and I couldn't see. Right at that moment I wanted Jake at my side so incredibly bad. I wanted to hear the sureshot saying "Hey no sweat buddy, I'll help you."

((Jake just wandered into my classroom and looked at the screen over my shoulder, and went 'awwwwww'. Then he's trying to give me a noogie. That's not gonna happen. So I grabbed him and hung him upside down while hauling him towards the bathroom.))

((No I didn't actually give him a swirly. The best part was Security showed up but didn't help him, they just stood there and laughed.))

Well Jake was six days post-op, in the ICU room across from mine, after having his insides sewn back up. I didn't know it but he'd had some sorta medication reaction and was a lot sicker than he shoulda been. Felina was talking in my ear and trying to calm me down, and when I was just a little more focused Dr. Bengal explained gently as he could that I couldn't talk because I had aphasia. And that it was from my head injury. And that he would arrange testing to see "what other challenges you may be facing."

He was trying to be real honest and reassuring. Didn't work for me. My first thought was "What the crud is aphasia?! And what's he mean 'Other challenges?' It could be worse?"

Course I didn't know this but Bengal'd told Feral I had a real poor chance of surviving, and even if I did, I wasn't gonna wake up. (You know I never did find out how Feral felt about it. Hmm...)

So Doc was pleased as punch with my level of function being so high. It turned out I only (only! Hah) had what's called expressive aphasia. Basically I understood others speaking. And I could read. Speech and writing were beyond me. I also had some memory problems, things like that which come with TBI but aren't part of aphasia.

But understanding all of that was in the future. At that moment all I knew was I couldn't talk and my life was over.

I wanted to scream at them. Why did you keep me alive? I can't get into the air again if I can't speak! I could see -everything- I was slipping out of my hands. I saw myself getting old and grey and muted, sitting in a rocking chair, good for nothing. Never seeing Dark Kat go down. Crud, forget that, just not being a SWAT Kat at all. Never getting out of the debt we had to the Enforcers, just… everything being over.

Felina was patting my shoulder awkwardly and before I knew it I was clinging to her and I just… I'm not very proud of myself. More fun brain injury things. You get all emotionally weird and bawl a lot. Well Callie was standing there looking suspiciously misty too. Felina's always a rock and put up with me crying all over her. Feral looked plain uncomfortable and escaped.

Dr. Bengal was getting frustrated with all the hysteria, and kept saying "This is not the end of your world. You can understand us. With work, we'll be able to understand you. Please believe me when I tell you this is treatable." I kind of accepted that he was sincere. He insisted I was going to talk again. Everybody kept telling me it coulda been worse.

I didn't know how. I cried more instead of calming down. I had woke up reduced to a stammering, blubbering idiot.

But at least I got to see him. Jake I mean. I kept pointing and gesturing until Callie finally guessed right. They moved the whole bed with me in it over to his room. All I could do was hold his hand and then sob like some kinda wuss.

This is harder to write about than I expected. Amazing how memories go huh?

(Jake showed up again and was hanging over my shoulder to read. He brought me coffee though. Now he's gone back to whatever it is he's doing today. I heard something exploding earlier, but that noise is not all that unusual around here. As long as no alarms go off we ignore it.)

Anyway Jake's been on my case to blog regular but I guess I don't find time. I mean i am a little busy! Outside of work hours I've been partnering with Operation: Travel Buddies. They provide free transportation to kats and kittens with TBI, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and other neurological disorders and their families to and from hospitals and doctor's appointments. I've been logging hundreds of hours with volunteer transport services, mostly ground transport around the city. I really have enjoyed it and it takes very little effort to make a big difference in their day. Oh, and you should see the faces when they realize that T-Bone is their chauffeur.

With my students at Top Kat Flight Training I've co-piloted dozens of pilot trainees getting the Kats that Operation: Travel Buddies serves to specialists. I'm planning on going to work with Operation: Travel Buddies full time after I retire from Top Kat as head flight instructor.

Having struggled with TBI myself, supporting survivors and their families has become a huge priority for me in the past few years.

That's why I'm pleased to announce that my buddy Jake at Clawson Labs has created a grant extending 20 million dollars earmarked towards paying for therapy, medical bills, and medication and equipment for citizens of Megakat City who are struggling to pay for the costs related to their TBI or other related disorders. It's his hope and mine that the fund will ease the bills that insurance doesn't cover and also soften the blow for the uninsured. Applications can be made by writing Clawson Labs and requesting one, or go to their website at wkw. clawsonlabs, org.

I'm also pleased to announce that the remodel of the neuro wing at Megakat Memorial is slated to be completed by the end of the month, along with the new therapy suite and the new cognitive generator install.

I'm told these new models are nothing like the one I had to put up with. You don't feel a thing.

I am extremely pleased that Clawson Labs and Top Kat Flight Training have been able to serve our community in this fashion. Me n' Jake owe a lot to Megakat City's support of us over the years and it's only right we give back as much as we can.

As always you can send your questions, comments, and death threats to cfurlongtbone clawsonlabs. mkc .org or just link to the blog with your Furbook account.

P.S. Go visit your local long term care facility. Take some flowers and ask to spend time with some lonely old Kat who doesn't speak any more. Treat them like they're listening and understanding you, and maybe give them a hug. It'll make their day.

Chance Furlong, Founder Top Kat Flight Training

Through these mean skies a Kat must fly.


	6. A Bonding Moment - Felina and Callie

((I want to apologize to anyone who was disappointed in my last posting. I am just… sort of in a rut with the next section of A Chance to Live. I am not trying to gloss over anything. Trust me when I say everything in this storyline will probably be overly detailed before it's done, rather than less.

The first person blog from Chance is still the best way I was able for him to articulate how he felt after waking up with his head injury. I just maybe didn't time it well.

I should point this out. For those who were worried, A Chance to Die chapter one does indicate that both SWAT Kats have survived past this encounter in their lives. A Chance to Live, A Chance to Die and the as yet unposted Clawson Labs Blog are all part of the same timeline. A Date with Felina and Stars are unrelated to these guys.

ANYWAY this small scene popped into my head afterwards. I started it hours after Cody Furlong's review. Because SOMEBODY IS DISAPPOINTED I MUST FIX THIS. So yes, please review. It spurs me on.

This post is going to be Felina and Callie centric and I'm thinking it will help smooth the path and transition the story better.

I do not own SWAT Kats. I am not profiting from this fanfic in any way shape or form, other than my own amusement and the amusement of others. Some OCs who did not appear in the cartoon belong to me.))

"Really, he was awake?" Callie asks, looking at T-Bone's prone figure. The nurse who was resetting something on one of the many IV pumps assured her that he was simply asleep. Not comatose, and not drugged unconscious, though he'd had a hefty dose of pain meds. Just naturally asleep.

After a moment of hesitation, the Deputy Mayor steps forward and cups her hand over the burly tomkat's restrained fist. His eyelids flutter a second and one slits open, taking a moment to focus. He gives her a sleepy, droopy thumbs up before seeming to doze off again. Callie exhales with relief and glances over at Felina, who is grinning.

"Nith to thee, ithn't it Deputy Mayor?" Feral's niece is standing in the doorway, grinning. Her lip and eye are puffy and changing colors, her cheek is puffed out, and those blood stains on her uniform may never come out, but none of that is bothering her.

"It certainly is, Lieutenant," Callie agrees with a smile.

"Come on. Let'th leddim thleep," Felina lisps, and both she-kats walk out towards the busy nurse's desk in the ICU. The Officer and Sergeant at guard outside the room salute smartly as the two pass by.

When Callie had learned that Felina had seen T-Bone conscious, she was eager to see for herself. However she'd insisted that Felina get her mouth seen to in the ER first. They hadn't even had to sign in. A friendly nurse had packed the empty socket ("Consider this a freebie," she'd said, "because I am not doing 'visitor incident' paperwork on a day like this.") It didn't take long, but by the time they were done and Felina more resembled a chipmunk than a Kat, T-Bone had been moved back into an ICU room. And apparently he was comfortable enough to doze off.

The hospital was slowly moving patients back in, those who hadn't been out and out discharged or transferred to other facilities anyway. At the nurse's desk the staff are kind of running around chaotically, with irritated expressions. There are only two patients left in the ICU, including T-Bone. But after the evacuation, power blips freezing computers and some hasty transfers to other facilities, the records are a messy nightmare.

There's a small alcove with chairs and a coffee maker between a couple of the patient rooms, and Felina heads inside. "'Ow d'you take your coffee, Callie? Black?" she asks.

The two she-kats had had good long hours available to them to get to know each other better, and while they still addressed each other properly in public they were apt to go on a first name basis when it was just the two of them.

"Yes, black please, Felina," Callie murmurs as she sits on the edge of a chair. She sets her briefcase down next to her chair and straightens the skirt of her suit dress with a hand.

Felina's back is to Callie as she's pouring, then coffee cup in hand she turns. "...Hey. You alright?" Felina says kindly, spotting Callie wiping at suspicious eye moisture with the heel of her hand.

She holds out the cup and Callie takes it with a quiet thank you. "I don't know why I'm crying. I should be thankful and relieved about T-Bone… he seems with it... Didn't he seem with it to you, Lieutenant?" She questions and Felina nods more.

Felina wasn't certain how Callie had come to that conclusion by one thumbs up, but she wasn't about to contradict her. "Yeah I think he recognithed uth both. Anyway, don't feel bad. I get the thame way thomtimes. Hate theeing my coworkers in hosthpitals." She's pouring herself a half cup.

"I find it hard to believe that you're ever as silly about it as I am, Felina," she mutters.

"Ith not "thilly", Callie. Nothin' thilly about your feelingth at a hurt friend," Felina replies, her voice perhaps a bit steely. She settles down into a chair next to the Deputy Mayor.

"I'm sorry. I can't say anything right today," Callie says, twisting a handkerchief she'd pulled from her briefcase in her hands. "The worst part is the not knowing, I think. I don't know what this city will do without them- oh, Felina, I'm sorry, that wasn't meant to be a dig," she exclaims.

Felina shrugs. "S'ok. I know how you mean it. An' it'th troo. I dunno where the cidy would be widout dem eider. We Enfortherth need some of dere mithiles an' two or tree Turbokaths." she jokes. "Would -love- to take dat girl for a testh drive." Her expression fades however and she glances uncomfortably at the wall separating them from T-Bone's room. "Unforthunately the Turbokat Ith scrap. And we may be wifout dem for a good long while, if not for good."

Callie shudders. "I know Dr. Bengal has already said T-Bone's going to have a long recovery. I don't know how this internal bleed will change Razor's healing if... I mean, when. I mean..." She sighs frustrated and Felina nods.

"No I get you. He'll be okay, you'll thee." She wonders for a moment about the Deputy Mayor- Callie wasn't usually so... Flustered. But maybe she was reading too much into it.

"...Felina. What -are- we going to do without them?" Callie asks suddenly.

Felina shakes her head slightly, with a cup of coffee in her own hand. "No need to borrow trouble. We'll take it day by day from dere."

"Alright. I'll let tomorrow take care of itself," Callie says firmly. "I don't need to make up problems. Though it's hard not to consider the obvious. With the SWAT Kats injured, I can only imagine the opportunities that our local bad Kats may take."

Felina muses over the only two that she is aware are left, Viper and Dark Kat. Well, and Pastmaster. But he'd not been seen for years. They couldn't be that unlucky... Could they? Her own forgotten cup of coffee is still in hand. "Hope Viper thay's hidden. He kind of worrith me more dan Dark Kat. Ol' Thhhhhnakeputh... Argh. Th...Ssssnn.." She makes a face and has to dab at the spittle on her fat lip with a napkin.

"…..You know, Felina, you really should head to a dentist."

"What're dey gonna do? I didn' keep da toof," Felina points out, and Callie can't help but chuckle.

"I guess there isn't much they could do then."

Felina shakes her head, poking at the gauze with her tongue. "Loothing a toof wath worth it to get Mac."

"I wish I could of seen your Uncle smacking Mac with that baton of his."

"It wath great. Mac deservth every blow," Felina says with feeling "an' I think Ungle deservthed being th' one delivering." The two she-kats share a good chuckle together, and Callie sips cautiously at the coffee.

"Mmm, the elixir of life."

"Bad for you. Too muth cahfeen," Felina says briskly.

"Ah but at least I'll have died happy, hopefully with almond flavored house blend in my veins." Callie sips again and glances up as there's a flurry of activity in an empty room. A nurse is lowering the empty bed and checking the equipment in the wall. A second nurse scurries in with an armful of linens and a spray bottle. She dumps the linens on a chair then starts attacking the stripped bed and every other hard surface with the spray.

"Where's Environmental Services at?!" the first nurse complains, as she grabs paper towels and starts frantically wiping.

The second one with the spray shakes her head, but keeps spraying. "Evacuated, like everybody else. Don't have time to wait for them to waddle back in. If we're not ready by the time Fisch gets here, she's gonna have kittens. They're going to come straight from OR."

"I was sooooo relieved when she finally retired… and here she's back. It's like my worst nightmares have come to life," the first nurse moans as she attacks the bed rails.

"...Dr. Fisch was the surgeon. They must be talking about Razor," Callie says, hope in her voice. "He must be alright!"

Felina sighs, sounding suspiciously like relief there. Perhaps she was more worried than she let on. She pauses to blow the steam away from her own coffee before taking a tiny sip. "You really care about bof of dem don't you?" Felina asks and Callie flushes a little.

"Well. They do save my life with shocking regularity," she replies lightly.

Felina grins at her over her cup. "No, you're turning pink. You -like- dem," she accuses playfully.

Callie rolls her eyes. "Of course I like them. They're my friends. They're good Kats…." she starts to argue, then trails off. "Don't look at me like that."

Felina raises an eyebrow. "Look at you like what? I'm not lookin' at you like anyfing," she grins. "Callie an… whith one? T-Bone? Thittin' in a twee…" she retorts.

Callie makes a pfft noise with her mouth, some of her hair floating in the breeze. "Stop that. Maybe there's some attraction. I mean, they're both gentle-Kats. And they're both physically… er. Well." Felina snickers as Callie tries to pull a straight face. "But I don't think it'd work out," she admits.

"How come? Do you got some secret dirdy habitths to hide?" Felina presses.

"Goodness, I hope not!" she laughs. "But I do sometimes wonder…. if I feel so strongly about them both because they've saved me so often. Sort of a… a dependency. That's not really the underpinnings of a stable relationship, is it?"

Felina shrugs again. "You may have a point," she admits, and makes a face at her coffee cup. Belatedly she'd realized hot liquids are not the best thing to sip when you're trying to stop a bleeding wound in your mouth. She sets the coffee aside and slumps in the chair a bit, tilting her head back. "It thoundth like a thyndrome. Like... Stockholm." She has to articulate quite carefully to get the S sound out.

"No that's the one where you get attached to your kidnapper. Goodness knows that I have had enough opportunities for that. Can you imagine?" She shudders with revulsion.

"Ick! I can thee you as Dark Kat's dark bride maybe," she muses and Callie makes a face.

"Only if I get to wear a big gothy chain on my shoulder," she quips.

Felina laughs and says, "You would wear it bedder dan Dark Crud. But If you -were- to become a villaineth, I can't thee you being dependent on a tom. I've alwayth theen you as…. I don't know. A power player in thith town. You made your job your own and you're breaking down boundarieth. Drat." she frowns, since she'd almost gotten a whole sentence out that sounded normal, and failed at the end. "Double drat."

"Felina, you're one of the few she-kats in the Enforcers. I'm the last person you should think of as 'breaking down boundaries'."

"Tho what if I'm in the Enfortherth? There'th no increath in she-Kat-thhs entering th' ranks afther me. But I've had little girlths tell me they want to be like Mith Briggs."

"You have not," Callie accuses.

Felina shrugs. "It'th true, I haven't. I lied. But it thounded good."

Callie rolls her eyes and takes another sip of her coffee. "...Maybe something could engineer an increase in she-Kats entering the Enforcers….." she muses.

Felina glances at her. "Like what?"

She shakes her head. "Some sort of publicity to recruit more females. Maybe an ad campaign that she-kats are welcome?"

Felina snorts. "What gave you that idea? They aren't welcome."

"Well, why should that be?" Callie questions. "Aren't she-Kats capable?"

"The toms don't like to be in battle bethides a she-Kat. It'th all misguided thhhhivalry. They worry that they're going to have to protect them. Tho the girlths get forthed out during boot."

"What's different about yourself?"

"II don't let any tom outdo me, and I'm good at what I do. But anything to increath recruits Ith a good idea. They're getting leth and leth recruiths, nobody wanth to be eaten by a giant bactheria or blown up by alienths." She waves her hands frustratedly. "But back to point. I wath trying to thay not to let your happineth be affected by thom worries about dependenthy."

She blinks. "My happiness?" Callie questions

"Zactly. Don't waste any time. Tho thpill, Callie... Which one ith it?" Felina asks.

Callie stares at her in bafflement for a moment before the meaning of those words comes to her. "For goodness sake, Lieutenant!" she exclaims.

"Come on." Felina elbows her playfully.

"It's a silly question! I like them both equally!" she protests, with cheeks burning. When she sees the disbelieving expression on Felina's face, she scowls at her. "I have the right to remain silent," Callie says stubbornly.

"For all you know, dere mawwied," Felina says slyly.

"To each other?" Callie retorts sarcastically, and Felina makes a loud HAH! Peals of girlish giggles ring out from the sitting area.

"Well nooo.. I didn' tink of dat," she replies. " but dey could be! Wid ten kits between dem! You may be a homewrecker."

"Please, you're breaking my heart," Callie says dramatically, and they're both giggling again like ninnies.

Once the giggles had lapsed a little, Felina broaches the subject again. "Well afther you are done breaking up the SWAT Kats marriage TO EACH OTHER…."

"Felina, for goodness sake!"

"I'm just teasing you. But about what you thaid earlier. If you feel thomthing for one of dem go for it."

Callie sighed, staring into get coffee up. Felina raises an eyebrow as the Deputy Mayor isn't arguing with her. "That would be a breach of a professional relationship," she replies briskly.

"Why? Dere not your employees," Felina points out. "Uh. Wait. Dere not your employees are dey?"

Before Callie can retort, the ICU doors fly open and an entourage of staff enter. They're escorting a patient on a bed with myriad equipment and IVs and an irritable looking older woman in green scrubs is in the lead.

"Oh my," Callie murmurs, standing, and Felina gets to her feet as well. The fur color indicates it's most assuredly Razor.

Barry is following close behind and looking a little green under his fur. Felina heads over with Callie and Barry makes a rather lackluster salute towards her. "What'th wrong wif you?" Felina asks.

Barry gulps before responding. "Blood. Hate the sight of blood. What's wrong with your mouth Lieutenant?" he asks, spotting the puffy eye and cheek.

Felina pulls her lip upwards to expose a wad of bloody gauze and Barry gulps again, eyes glazing over. "Lieutenant... Deputy Mayor, excuse me," he stammers and swiftly makes a beeline for the nearest "Restrooms" sign.

The staff are moving Razor into the room and the doctor pauses in her ordering them about to eye Callie and Felina. "And who are you?" the surgeon asks, with a less pronounced accent now that things are somewhat more in control.

"Deputy Mayor Calico Briggs, Doctor," she replies in her best politics voice. "I'd like to ask-"

"Are you family?" the bruske doctor interrupts, and Callie is startled into a moment of silence. "Why no, but-"

Dr. Fisch holds up a hand to forestall her. "Ut, ut, ut, my dear, I cannot be givink out the personal information," the surgeon says grandly. "If you will excuse me. Hy must write orders because dere seems to be an absence of hospitalists in this building." She sniffs, obviously disapproving of this situation. And with that the door is slammed quite firmly in both their faces.

"...Well! She certainly told me," Callie says wryly.

"Dat was de ol' retired thurgeon?" Felina questions. "Glad I'm not a nurth. Hate to have to work under her."

"Uh huh. She brings up a good point though," she muses. "Who -would- make decisions for them if… I mean, you understand. 'If.'"

Felina pauses. "Huh. I dunno. But dey was asking Ungle some things cause… well. He was dere wit T-Bone."

Callie eyes her a moment. "... Uh huh. Amazing he's still alive," she quips, at which Felina's hackles bristle a bit. "Oh don't. But we should… I'll try to get a lawyer involved.

"Oh yeth… a lawyer, jus' what we need."

Now it's Callie's turn to glower at her and Felina grins. "Prethent company acthepted?" and Callie can't hold back a grin.

"Alright. That was a low and dirty blow but I deserved it."

Then they're both laughing in the hall like a couple loons.

Curious glances are thrown their way, though the look Barry is giving them as he returns is utterly disapproving. "What're you two banshees hooting about?" he grumbles.

They both stare a moment, then Felina grins. She opens her mouth wide and gives him another view.

"Argh!" Barry whines, holding his hands up in front of his eyes. "You are one crazy she-kat, Lieutenant!" he snaps, and the ladies dissolve into crazy gales of laughter all over again.

"Poor Sergeant Bagheera! You shouldn't tease him like that Felina," Callie says with a grin once she's finally collected herself. Then the ICU room door opens and a few staff filter out. Inside is Dr. Fisch and a couple nurses, and Razor, plugged into myriad items around the bed. "Excuse me," Callie says distractedly, and she hurries in.

"Yeah don't tease me like that, Lieutenant, Briggs says so," he grumbles, watching Callie who's moved swiftly to Razor's bedside.

Felina ignores the insubordination and leans her shoulder against the door frame. Razor is on a vent but he doesn't have as many tubes and wires as T-Bone. Still, he looks like hell. A transfusion is hanging from the IV pole and Fisch is complaining about some minor imperfection in the linens on the bed. The nurses have smiles frozen on their faces.

"Did things go okay in dere?" Felina questions.

Barry hesitates before he answers. "I think the surgery did anyway. That short little surgeon lady knew what she was doing," he says. "I didn't know surgery was that… I dunno. It's not like on 'Memorial Hospital.' I thought in the operation room it would be all hush hush with the doctor snapping 'Scalpel!' and some nurse right at his elbow mopping his forehead with a sponge. Nothing like it. It was chaos, at least it was until they found whatever was bleeding. Once he wasn't dying in front of them the whole atmosphere changed while they finished whatever they were finishing. They turned on the rock music and the whatever, the guy who ran all the oxygen and gas and stuff? He spent more time playing with the radio than anything else. And it was still loud but it was routine loud, you know." He gulps. "There was still a lot of blood though. They had to drain it out of his stomach." He shudders, eyes closed.

"Why'd you go in with him if you're tho thqueamith?" Felina asks curiously.

"That's my job. It's a good thing I did too. Had to stop a surgical tech with a cell phone camera from sneaking a pic... Uh... But. He briefly unmasked him," he mutters, shamefaced.

Felina stares at him. "What?" she asks, incredulous. "Where were you?!"

"I'm sorry Lieutenant, I was uh…. cowering over a bucket at the time. Like I said, he pulled his mask before I could stop him. But I got the guy. He's going to have a headache tomorrow," he says darkly. "Uh... I didn't make an arrest, Lieutenant. I have his name though..."

She taps fingertips on her leg, seemingly in thought. "I don't know if we wanna do dat or justh let it go... I don't think I want to make a criminal report. The entire organizathion can look at it. Lemme think."

He nods. "That's kind of... Yeah. Why I didn't."

"Hmm. Maybe I'll take care of it mythelf. Did you thee?" Felina asks.

"Yeah, I guess," he says with a shrug, like it's no big deal.

Did you recognith him?" She asks and Barry shakes his head. "No, not really. Should I have?"

"... No can't think why you would. An' nobody thaid they recognithed him?"

He shook his head. "One of the nurses covered Razor's head pretty quick... You know... People really must respect those two in this town. You coulda stirred the anger in that room with a stick. That Dr. Fisch almost chewed him up and spit him out. I never saw a tom run so fast. I don't think I got to worry while she's in there," he adds, inclining his head towards the doorway into the patient room. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I've disobeyed all sort of orders today and done a poor job at the ones I followed," he grumbles.

She seems to ponder this a long moment. "Come on and leth talk. And get you some coffee." Felina wraps her arm over Barry's shoulder, and the Sergeant looks at her suspiciously a second before he sighs.

"Yeah maybe I can stomach some coffee."

"Good, come sit down a minute den. We better get usthed to each odder cauth I think dis is da start of a beautiful fwiendthip," Felina says with a smirk.

Barry sighs again, in a most long suffering manner. "I have a feeling I'm going to regret this conversation."


	7. Chapter 7

((A Chance to Live, A Chance to Die, and Clawson Labs blog posts are all related in characters and storyline.

My other fan fics so far, such as 'A Date with Felina' are not related to the Chance/Jake from the 'Clawson Labs universe,' so to speak.

You can probably figure out that italics are indicating thoughts.

((SWAT Kats belongs to Hannah-Barbera and I do not own any of the trademarked characters nor am I profiting from this in any way, other than it's fun. Sgt. Barry Bagheera is an OC I made for this storyline.))

"Really, Commander, you can see our hands are tied," the CEO says, with false sincerity. He smiles and gestures open handed and magnanimous from behind his enormous, mahogany executive desk. "Other arrangements will have to be made."

Across the desk, four Kats are seated, all wearing similar displeased expressions. Feral shoves the chair back and stands, glaring at the CEO. He towers over them all as he leans forward and pounds his fist on the desktop, causing the pens emblazoned with "MKMH - Your First Choice" to dance in the MKMH coffee cup holding them. "What other arrangements?"

"Whatever is necessary to get the SWAT Kats out of this hospital. By the end of the day, if you please," is the cool response, despite the Commanders hot temper.

The neurologist, Dr. Brownstring, stares at him. "How are we supposed to arrange that so swiftly?" he questions.

The CEO shrugs nonchalantly. "I'm certain another hospital will be happy to host-"

"And if no other hospital will accept them after what happened last week?" Feral barks.

Drs. Bengal and Fisch are there as well. Both look as irritated as Feral.

"Doctors, Commander," the CEO says with gentle, tried patience, as if he's entirely longsuffering "In light of the recent incidents and with no assurances on payment for the -significant- fees they're accruing, I have no choice but-"

"I won't write transfer offers," Bengal says sharply. Feral raises an eyebrow and glances at the soft spoken physician. That's the strongest worded he's heard the doc be. "Your position on this is frankly that of a despot," he says moreover and the CEO's jaw tightens.

This is too much for the CEO and now he's the one on his feet, hands on his desk and leaning in menacingly. "This discussion is over. You-will- see that they are transferred out of my hospital, and you will do so by the end of the day. I don't care where they go but it is not safe for our other patients should they remain. Consequently neither are welcome any longer. And doctors: don't cross me. I expect team players."

Wordlessly Feral turns on his heel and stalks out of the room. Behind him he can hear a particular accented voice speaking up. "Hyou cannot fire ME, Milton!" Fisch snaps.

Feral pulls the door shut behind him a little harder than is necessary and turns to see Felina leaning against the wall. The sole of one booted foot is pressed against it and her arms are wrapped across her chest. He eyes her a moment. "Eavesdropping is unbecoming an officer, Felina," he curtly growls. He turns and starts to walk off down the hall.

She pushes away from the wall and falls into step beside him. "I can't believe that jerk is pulling this. Uncle, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," He says with a large sigh. "Those two hot shots are becoming an even bigger pain in my tail! And through no fault of theirs, for once," he muses.

Felina suddenly snaps her fingers. "I have a crazy idea," she announces.

"Felina, I'll hear it. Is it good enough to get us out of this problem?" Feral growls.

"Well… Uncle. You may want to sit down."

"It is a rrrrrridiculous plan," Dr. Fisch snaps. In her agitation, her accent was going full swing. "It is zimply inapprrrrrrrrropriate! Zey need full hospital support."

"I agree," Dr. Brownstring nods, glancing towards Feral. "They're both too fragile currently to be outside a med-surg environment. Perhaps there's a rehab facility we haven't yet contacted who'd take them…" Dr. Bengal is shaking his head, a stack of notes in his hands.

"I don't believe there are any more rehab or nursing facilities left to contact. Nobody's accepted them. They're either not equipped or not licensed to accept them, they don't want them because of security concerns, or they don't have available rooms," Bengal states.

Dr. Brownstring frowns, and continues. "T-Bone will need intensive neuro unit care and-"

"I assure you, none of you dislike the idea more than I do," Feral growls. "Tell me there's another choice."

All three fall silent, glancing around as if their salvation may drop from the ceiling.

"I spoke to Ms. Briggs and the lawyer she retained. It's not technically illegal for the CEO to do this, though I can't ever remember it happening before," the neurologist finally says softly. "We're not in the practice of denying care to patients who cannot pay."

Dr. Fisch snorts. "Hy vonder vhy ve are zis time," she says with extreme sarcasm.

Dr. Brownstring speaks up again. "If we had a little bit of knowledge that this was coming, the katizens of Megakat City would have stepped up and ..."

Fisch shakes her head. "Hy doubt that it vould make any difference if they vere paying," Dr. Fisch says with disgust.

"What if someone took them into their home, or, or a motel room?" Feral asks, looking hopeful.

"Yes, both would be possible once they're healthier. Right now I don't think either would be as suitable as the current plan," Bengal replies.

Feral sighs. "I thought that might be the case." He smacks the wall in anger. "I don't know even where to start preparing," he says, so angry he could spit.

"Commander I think I can help. I'll find some staff and I'll be there in a few hours, to see what else may need arranged," Bengal offers.

"Thank you, Doctor Bengal," Feral says rather formally.

"Oh no need to thank me, we all want what's best for them, don't we Commander?" Bengal says cheerfully as the Commander turns away.

Feral freezes and forces a smile before looking back. "Why, of course. Er. Excuse me," he grumbles and stalks off. "I can't very well let them be tossed onto the streets. The katizens of Megakat city would poll Mayor Manx to strip me of my stripes," he grumbles.

Three hours later, T-Bone was in hell, like he'd been for the past 90 minutes or so. Well, it wasn't as bad as SOME sections of hell he'd enjoyed over the past couple weeks. But it was still hell.

"Just another forty minutes, Mister T-Bone," came the voice through the speakers next to his left ear. He rolls his eyes down, towards the entrance to the cognitive generator but sees only black plastic and flashing colored lights.

"It's only a little while more."

_That's easy for her to say._

It had all started with a byline in the mostly useless 'patient education packet' he thumbed through one day out of boredom. It mentioned the cognitive generator.

It was explained to him that this was new tech. It was only approved for and they'd only used it with elderly Kats who'd had strokes. For them it was working. But for a traumatic head injury?

T-Bone hadn't hesitated. He insisted on trying it, though he had a hard time convincing them he understood what he was agreeing to.

Dr. Brownstring was dubious and reluctant to allow T-Bone to be used as a guinea pig. The rep from the company that built it was nearly salivating at the prospect of getting a new indication for their equipment.

Finally Commander Feral had asked pointedly if the downed pilot had anything to lose?

They'd told him if he was lucky, the treatment felt odd. Like a crawly sensation. It seemed like the ones who were the most irritated got the best and fastest results.

T-Bone'd been 'lucky'. T-Bone is restrained flat on the table, his teeth are gritted onto the bite block and his claws cut into the grips in his hands placed for just that purpose. It felt like an army of tiny creeplings were tapping in his skull. Strapped down tightly with his head braced into a square foam immobilizer, he tries to choke down the rising nausea out of sheer self preservation. Rushing noise like a hundred seashells held to the ears are filling his head and he twitches against the restraints. They'd learned quick enough that he wasn't dealing well with treatments and that he needed "a little extra encouragement" as the tech put it, to stay still.

Waves of nausea flow in ripples from the pit of his stomach up his throat and he keeps swallowing convulsively. Between the sensation of ice-picks gouging his brain and the rushing in his ears and the nausea - he was doubting he'd last to the end of this session.

Then he hears a commotion, and his ears prick.

"But sir! He's not through with the cycle-"

"I said, shut it down, and pull him out," he hears, and the unmistakable sound of Feral growling.

There's a "shump" noise and the ice picks abruptly stop their tapping. The nausea is not so forgiving through as the bed T-Bone is laying on is jerked out of the machine. He gulps rather frantically, as hands start to detach the restraints on his wrists and shoulders, across his chest twice, over his knees and thighs and lower legs and his head.

He spots a Kat he'd seen before but didn't know, some big wig in the hospital hierarchy with a steely expression, and Feral-

Feral looked like he was ready to rip out someone's throat with his teeth. _Hope that's got nothing to do with me._

"He's discharged. His things are being packed. A transport team will pick him up here. If you'll excuse me, Commander?" the well dressed Kat says. Feral snarls so overtly the CEO jumps back and heads out of the room a tad more speedily than you would think he was wont to do.

T-Bone looks up at the Commander and sits up awkwardly with his arm across his chest, trying to brace the ribs. Both he and the tech stare at Feral, who looks like he'd greatly love to chuck the nearest heavy object at the retreating CEO's head, but he restrains himself with the greatest difficulty.

"Evidently you and your friend have overstayed your welcomes," he growls. "So. Alternate arrangements have been made."

"...Uh?" T-Bone looks at him and Feral sighs like only a most long suffering Kat can.

"There had better be a law against this idiocy by the end of the legislative session," he grumbles.

T-Bone and the tech exchange a confused glance.

"Excuse me, Commander Feral, but-"

"It's simple, miss. Your boss is an ass," he growls, and stalks out.

"...Ooookay," the tech mutters.

Callie suddenly rushes in, cheeks pink and looking like she's about to blow a gasket. "Did they tell you yet?" she asks breathlessly, and T-Bone stares at her before shaking his head.

She sighs. "You're being kicked out of the hospital. I've combed every law book I can looking for a loophole, but in lieu of a lawsuit and court injunction… and that would require your filing under your real name… T-Bone, you trust me, don't you?" She asks sweetly. He raises an eyebrow and nods, maybe a tiny bit hesitantly.

"Alright. I'll take that as a yes. I'm going to…" she pauses as a couple irritated looking EMTs enter the room.

"EY!" T-Bone says suddenly, and Callie glances back distractedly. He grabs at a notebook that'd been laying by his side. He and the ST had spent a laborious hour filling in different communication words, and flips it to the R's. Of course Razor was the top entry.

"Razor is coming too. He's already ready to go. Just trust me, alright T-Bone?"

He throws his hands up in the air. _What choice do I have, Callie?_

In a surprisingly short amount of time T-Bone found himself on a gurney in an Enforcer chopper, lifting off the helipad at MKMH. There wasn't a lot to see other than the interior of the chopper as he was laying flat, one hand back behind his head. The flight took only a few minutes, and he knew several of those were circling the landing site.

_Where are we going that's this close?_

When the bird finally sets down and the door opens T-Bone thinks he must be hallucinating.

They'd landed on a flight line. The attached building had a huge semi-circle sign over the entrance with oversized letters proclaiming ENFORCER HEADQUARTERS.

_This has got to be some sort of very, very bad joke._

The two EMTs, who're trying to get the gurney off the chopper that was never designed for EMS use, are starting to use some colorful words. He spots Felina walking across the flight line and waves at her hysterically. She pulls off her helmet and keeps walking. "I'll come find you in a little while!" she calls.

His ears fold back against his head. _What's that supposed to mean. Come on Felina! Am I under arrest here?_

He glances around, noting the jets and choppers nearby and the surprising lack of activity near the control tower. For a moment he ponders stealing a plane. The idea of fighting off the EMTs, then getting off the gurney and staggering to a plane all while hand to hand defending against a bunch of grumpy armed Enforcers (young fresh ones at that, who have NOT had a heart attack only days ago) makes him sweat. So he didn't know what else to do but enter the lion's den. Or the Feral's den, so to speak.

Besides, Razor was already inside. What was he supposed to do, leave him there? So unhappily he looks upwards as the letters pass overhead and he's pulled through the doors.


	8. Chapter 8

A Chance to Live, A Chance to Die, and Clawson Labs blog posts are all related in characters and storyline.

My other fan fics so far, such as 'A Date with Felina' and Down, Down, Down in the Ground are independent of and not related to the Chance/Jake from the 'Clawson Labs universe,' so to speak.

You can probably figure out that italics are indicating thoughts.

SWAT Kats belongs to Hannah-Barbera and I do not own any of the trademarked characters nor am I profiting from this in any way, other than it's fun. Sgt. Barry Bagheera is an OC I made for this storyline.))

A long elevator ride down later T-Bone finds himself in a hall several levels down in the underground portion of the Enforcer HQ. On this level of the HQ was a fairly extensive medical wing. It'd been designed for catastrophic city wide emergency: to be deep enough to withstand shelling, and to be appropriate for medical emergencies when the city hospitals were unavailable.

Mostly it was used for therapy space, beings as there wasn't any call for the Enforcers to have their own mini-hospital 99.9% of the time. Enforcers who'd been injured in the job got treated there and T-Bone remembered once getting a little PT down here during his own Enforcer days, after he'd stupidly slipped off a fighter wing and landed on his tail on the flight line. He'd forgotten the place existed til he was seeing it again.

The hall is dead and he's moved swiftly along. He's got the impression that this was a sorta 'hush hush' situation but he can't help but smirk a little. _ Right, the way gossip flies through ranks? Good luck keeping this a secret, Feral. You're going to need it._

Soon enough he's wheeled into a ward-style room, with a couple beds, each with a chair and a bedside table, left out of what was probably room for eight. The two beds were positioned right next to each other near the far wall. The place had a drab grey and blue color scheme, and no windows. Oddly some posters were on a couple of the walls. Along with the entrance door, another door leads to a bathroom and there are a couple other narrow ones, presumably to a closet or other storage.

There was enough room without the other beds for two arm chairs and a small kitchen table with some straight chairs. A desk in the corner had a desktop PC, and there was a collection of books on an end table. The place looked lived in, and like they had prepared for them in to settle for a good long time.

In one bed was his buddy Razor who was flat on his back, mouth hanging open and eyes closed.

Razor'd had some sorta reaction to something or other. He didn't exactly understand how they'd 'screwed this up,' in his mind, because how could supposedly smart doctors and nurses use a med that could cause a reaction like this? Wasn't that illegal or something?

Dr. Bengal had assured him that it would wear off, but so far he'd been wrong. T-Bone found it rather ironic that he'd woken up out of his coma earlier than expected, and here Razor took a dive.

T-Bone taps one of the EMTs arms and gestures insistently at the chair next to Razor's bed. With some help they get him settled. Even standing up to turn/pivot and then sit again breaks him out in a sweat.

While one of the EMTs is trying to get the tubing attached into the wall oxygen, the other is giving Razor a curious look.

_Touch him and you die, jerk. _

He glances over and seeing T-Bone eying him, he steps out of the way a bit hurriedly.

T-Bone grabs Razor's hand and reaches over with the other to pat his shoulder. _Hey buddy, how you feeling? _

At the touch, Razor's head turned towards him. For a second he fostered hope that he was doing better.

His eyes are slit open but dull and he doesn't respond to the pat other than the head turning. Frowning, T-Bone reaches over and pushes his mouth shut with a finger. He scowls as it just drops open again when he moves his hand. His mouth is so far open T-Bone realizes he can see the back of Razor's throat, with the NG tube racing down between the tonsils. "Eeeh…" T-Bone cringes.

_Oh yeah that's real attractive, Sureshot._

"Hey, don't mess with-" The too-curious EMT starts, reaching for T-Bone's hand like he's a meddling kitten, and he leaps back a step when T-Bone SNARLS at him. Glaring, he reaches for and hold Razor's shoulder again tightly. What the hell were they doing moving them in here, anyhow? Razor should still be in the hospital!

"Let him be, Burt, he's not hurting anything," the other EMT admonishes, then he pats him on the shoulder and says loudly, "You take care of yourself now, bud."

_I ain't your bud. Or deaf. _ But he flashes them a thumbs up. What else is he gonna do, spit on them?

Burt, the EMT who'd put a kink in T-Bone's tail is eyeing him as they move away. "Damn that's sad," he mutters to his friend.

T-Bone's throat clenches and he has to make a conscious effort not to chuck the nearest object after them.

The next couple hours were exhausting and frustrating. Nurses from a temp company showed up, most of whom immediately started harping on the insufficiency of the equipment and the facility and blah blah not trained for this not paid enough didn't sign up for this blah blah blah.

Only one actually came over and talked to him and she was one aggressive she-Kat. The rest hung back and eyeballed him, and whispered to each other behind their hands. He was introduced to a ST and a PT who were contracted for Enforcer workers comp claims and who were going to be working with them. They were friendlier anyway, and curious.

Doc Bengal also showed up but he was distracted by signing papers a grouchy nurse manager from the temp agency shoved at him.

Finally things settled down and they were left alone except for the seemingly ubiquitous presence of Sgt. Bagheera.

The Enforcer Sergeant had kind of become Razor's main guard in the past few days. T-Bone only vaguely knew him and hadn't really talked to him much. But he was the only guy telling him anything useful. Barry'd been the one to tell him about Razor's surgery after his encounter with Hard Drive. He'd led into it by telling T-Bone a highly embellished and funny version of their encounter with Hard Drive before he'd give into the hard news. He was handling their move today the same way, sitting kitty corner from him and gesturing animatedly as he spoke.

"So after that, the Lieutenant suggested that you two be brought here... The Commander didn't have a lot of choice. Technically it's the only medical facility that didn't say 'no'." He grins. "That CEO is gonna regret ticking Feral off though. A little birdie told Feral how us toms on street duty are always giving him parking tickets and that he don't always pay them on time..."

Felina walks in with a rather tired but oddly triumphant expression. "Heya, T-Bone," she says absently and hands a formal looking envelope to Barry, who receives it with suspicion. T-Bone taps his finger to his forehead in a mocking salute to the Lieutenant and Barry tears the envelope open.

"This is orders. Okay, Lieutenant, what's up with this?" he asks, after a moment of reading.

"We're reassigned. I got both of us posted here. 12 hour shifts, you're taking the night ones," Felina says crisply.

Barry looks at her with a sour expression. "...Great?" He folds the envelope in half and shoves it into a pocket, and glances back at T-Bone. "Hope you know how to play cards."

Meanwhile she's pulling a chair into the corner and climbing up to reach the item T-Bone had noticed with trepidation hours before - a security camera. It seemed to be off if the absence of a red light was any sign, but that didn't reassure him much. Felina matter of factly unplugs it and starts disconnecting video cables.

"So, this whole night shift thing… That's your uncle's scheduling isn't it. Don't want his niece alone at night with the dastardly handsome SWAT Kats?" Barry teases. T-Bone makes a rude noise with his mouth and Felina ignores them both. She was pulling the camera off its stand and laying it down on the chair seat.

Barry was already half out of his chair. "Uh. Lieutenant, you need some help?"

"Nah, I got it, but you can help me with this," she says, and tugs an item about the size of a big candy bar out of her back pocket. He walks over and takes it curiously.

"It's for detecting bugs," Felina explains as she pulls a screwdriver out of a pocket and starts taking the cover plate off the wall.

"What, like palmetto?" Barry asks, clearly not getting it.

"No," she rolls her eyes. "Like listening devices. You turn it on and sweep the area. It's supposed to beep."

"You think the Commander is gonna plant a bug in here?" Barry asks, sounding dubious.

Felina shakes her head, the entire camera assembly now in her hands. "No, but I wouldn't put it past someone else."

Barry's eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. "You got a specific someone in mind?"

"No not really. It's just a concern," she replies, frowning in thought.

T-Bone watches Barry with interest as he switches the little device in his hand on and starts moving around the edge of the room. "Lieutenant."

"Yeah?" She asks, stepping down to the floor.

"How do you know this thing works?"

"It'll work," she replies as she sets the chair back into its former spot.

"It looks like a remote for a TV."

She turns her head to glower at him. "It's not. I got it from an old inventor Kat named Hackle."

T-Bone's ears perk and his attention is drawn from Barry, who's waving the 'TV remote' under Razor's bed, back to Felina.

"Never heard of him. Did you buy it off his garage sale?"

Felina's starting to sound mighty exasperated. "Sergeant! It's not a TV remote!"

"How'd you know about this Hackle guy?"

"Had to bring him in for questioning regarding the Metallikats," Felina replies.

"Ow!" Barry thumps his head on the bedside table, and blinks at her. "What'd he have to do with them?"

"Too much, unfortunately," she replies. Felina shakes her head and unzips her jacket, tossing it onto the chair. T-Bone watches her walk over towards the room door in her tank top, and check the knob. "No lock on the inside… maybe I can get maintenance down here this afternoon to change the knob, or put in a dead bolt…" she muses.

Both T-Bone and Barry look at her curiously. "Little paranoid there?" Barry questions.

"Think, Sergeant. Do you really believe these two are safe here?" she asks abruptly. She moves towards the two, resting her hand on the footboard of Razor's bed.

He scratches the top of his head. "Well…. Wait, how do you want me to answer that?" he asks. "They're underground in a building full of Enforcers. On the other hand, they're underground in a building full of Enforcers," he says seriously.

Felina nods. "There are still plenty of us in the ranks who don't like you, T-Bone." The vigilante gives her a wicked, pleased grin in response and she rolls her eyes. "Can you imagine what Kats Eye News would make of you being unmasked by an Enforcer, in the Enforcer building?"

"Yeah that would sorta be a public relations nightmare, as well as inconvenient for t-..." he pauses as the device in his hand makes a slight beep then falls silent. He starts sweeping it back and forth in the same area but it remains quiet. "Huh… Anyway," he says, making one last swipe before he slips out from between the two beds and is moving on, "maybe your paranoia is warranted."

She turns her head, watching him. "Gee thanks for your support, Sergeant."

He glances back at her with a smirk. "Cause you wouldn't want any bad publicity reflecting on your Uncle."

"How about I see about making your shifts 24 hours, with 12 off… it'd be a nicer schedule for me," she replies.

"Classy, Lieutenant."

T-Bone is only vaguely listening to their nitpicking. His eyes are on Razor. He was kinda pale and his eyes were glazed, but otherwise he looked okay. If it weren't for the oxygen and the NG tube down his nose... and the IVs… and the automatic blood pressure cuff. And the fact he was out of it. He supposed that the pallor was normal.

Yeah, normal. "A new normal," like the therapists keep telling him. A normal that looks like warmed over kitty litter.

Not that he looked a lot better, with his own IVs running and oxygen setup. He reaches to pat his pal's shoulder again, and he sighs. Then his ears perk when Felina walks away and shoves an extra chair against the door and under the knob. She then starts back towards the beds. "Any more beeps, Sergeant?"

Barry shakes his head. "Nah it's not doing nothing," he replies, and glances over. She nods and looks to T-Bone, her hand against the door and he noticed how wary she looks. Like she's expecting a fight.

She exhales and for a second looks uncertain of her next action. This is so unlike the Lieutenant he knows he blinks, and leans in a bit to look at her. She spots this and smiles at him with a bit of hesitation. "Sorry… but… I'm sorry to just spring this on you, but I think this is important. You need to let Barry in on your identity."


	9. Chapter 9

((A Chance to Live, A Chance to Die, and Clawson Labs blog posts are all related in characters and storyline.

'A sentence like this' indicates thoughts. I was using italics and prefer to do so but then I have to fix it in the document editor and pffth. I'm done with that.

SWAT Kats belongs to Hannah-Barbera and I do not own any of the trademarked characters nor am I profiting from this in any way, other than it's fun. Sgt. Barry Bagheera is an OC I made for this storyline.))

"You need to let Barry in on your identity."

Felina says this real calmly, like she's commenting on the paint color for a bedroom or something. For a second T-Bone is sure his heart stops beating.

Barry looks to T-Bone and then back at Felina like he thinks he must of heard her wrong. "Say what, Lieutenant?"

"I've known who the SWAT Kats are for a couple years," Felina says cautiously.

T-Bone's jaw drops and he stares at her, disbelieving what she'd just said. Encouraging him to share his identity, he could see. Course she'd want to know that, she was an Enforcer and Feral's niece. Though he wondered if that wasn't just a little paranoia talking.

But the claim that she already knew?!

'No way. How could she? Maybe this is a test?' But, wait… Had she told him before that she knows? When was that? Where was that? It was all foggy. 'Maybe I dreamed it.'

He finally waves his hand dismissively at her.

"Think I'm bluffing?" She was watching T-Bone as she reaches into the pocket of her pants and pulls out…. a key ring.

And T-Bone's mind spirals backwards to nearly three years before.

"All finished, Lieutenant," he had said cheerfully as he handed over a set of keys.

"Thanks Furlo- hey," Felina paused, looking at the keychain with puzzlement. "These are my keys, but this isn't mine." She held the ring with the gold colored, pizza slice shaped keychain in her hand and raised her eyebrow at the mechanic.

"Oh yea uh…. well I heard it was your birthday next week," he said nonchalantly, "I saw this at Pappadelli's…. It's uh, it's for the birthday pizza club."

"The what?" The Lieutenant looked down and flipped the keychain over to read the lettering on the back.

"You know, you get a free pizza, during your birthday month." He shrugged, hands in the pockets of his coveralls. "You like Pappadelli's Pizzeria right?"

"Love it… how do you know that?" she questioned.

"Er, well. You said it. Uh. Once. We had a box here, remember, and you said you liked their pizza, and we were talking about peppers," he replied quickly.

"You remember this encounter a lot better than I do," she replied, her voice crisp.

"He remembers stuff like that," Jake had called from under a nearby hood. "He has been plotting to give you that keychain for three months."

Felina blinked and turned to stare at the slimmer kat. "Three months?" she asked, disbelieving.

Jake glanced over with a grin before he'd straightened up and nodded, and wiped his hands on a rag. "Yup. He's been counting the days waiting for you to show up for the next oil change."

Felina turned back to glance at Chance, and raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"I….I guess?" He stammered, looking a little nervous.

"Would you like me to show you the big red circle and arrows he drew around your appointment in the calendar?" Jake interjected, with a most innocent air.

His head had spun so quick his neck popped. A deadly glower had been aimed at his best 'friend' and partner, and he'd begun to crack his knuckles.

"So you remembered a random comment I made and got me a birthday gift months before my birthday, even somehow finding out my birth date without me telling you," she said with a bright smile. "That's not stalkerish at all." She eyed him, full Enforcer mode now. "Do you treat all she-Kats you meet like this?"

The conversation had disintegrated from there.

T-Bone stares at the keychain for a long silent moment before he reaches out for it. She places it into his hand and he sighs, turning to it over from side to side, and eventually meets her eyes.

"You remember giving me this don't you?" Felina asks softly, and T-Bone hesitates a moment, and glances worriedly at Razor.

'Jake is gonna hate this.'

"Come on T-Bone. Even if you don't admit it, I obviously have figured it out."

He finally glances back at her, then shrugs and nods. "Uh huh." He tosses it once in his hand and then offers it back to her.

She smiles slightly, taking it. "I enjoyed getting free birthday pizzas, it was a thoughtful gift," she informs him as she spins the keychain around once on her finger.

A half grin creeps across his face.

She pockets the keychain and her expression becomes more serious. "T-Bone, look. I've given this a lot of thought. Think about where we are right now. Your identities are going to be at risk with a standard guard rotation. I think it's vital you have somebody you can trust here at all times. I can't be here all the time and I think the Sergeant can be trusted. He needs to know."

Barry looks like he's swallowed something that tasted disgusting. "Waaaaaaait wait wait wait wait a second here," he protests. "Has anybody asked me if I want to know the SWAT Kats secret identities? No? They should ask, because I don't!"

T-Bone glances over at Barry and grins. He extends his hand to him and Barry grabs it, shaking it energetically. Barry gives Felina a smirk. "See? We're in agreement here, Lieutenant!"

Felina watched this show of solidarity with scorn. "Okay. Come on, Barry. Tell him."

"Tell him what?" the Sergeant asks with suspicion.

"Tell him you already know who Razor is," she replies.

T-Bone looks at Barry accusingly and takes his hand back like he's expecting to be bit.

Barry holds his hands up guarding himself, palms out. "Oh no you don't - Don't tell him that! I didn't… look at how he's looking at me, dammit!" he stammers.

"See T-Bone, it's perfect," Felina says brightly. "Barry already knows and he hasn't told anyone."

"I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS AND I WANT THAT ON THE RECORD!" Barry roars.

*SLAM* T-Bone bangs his big fist down on the arm of his chair. "SHAAAAAAAOP!" he growls, looking irritated. "...Wha? Wh…?" he gestures frustratedly at Razor and Barry shrugs, then ducks a bit in his chair when T-Bone's finger is pointed in his face.

"It was an accident. Somebody yanked his mask. It's not a big deal, I didn't recognize him. Stop waving your hand around!" Barry complains.

"Quit it you two," Felina orders, her hand moving to T-Bone's shoulder. "Look, the aim here is to help."

The Sergeant is still hunched a little to avoid the finger of accusation."Don't believe her, T-Bone! She's a sneaky, conniving female!"

"Sergeant!"

T-Bone glances at Barry a long moment. He starts to open his mouth then glances back at Razor.

'I could really use some advice about now, Sureshot.'

Felina glances at Razor and takes her hand away from T-Bone's shoulder. "I think he'd tell you to do it."

"Let him alone, Lieutenant," Barry advises her. He settles a bit more comfortably into the chair and laces his fingers together over his abdomen. "He's too smart to just blow his cover like that."

"Oh. Well then. Razor's name is Jake, and this is Chance," Felina announces and T-Bone gives her a look that could melt steel.

Barry stares at her open mouthed for several seconds before he remembers he can talk. "...wait, what? Did I hear you right? I can not believe you just did that!"

Felina shrugs, then crosses her arms over her chest. "I made a decision."

"No, lieutenant, you forced a decision. That was really a jerk thing to do. Sir."

T-Bone is quiet. And there's a space of silence for about ten heartbeats, before he sighs a defeated sigh and reaches over and tugs Razor's mask off. He pats down Jake's forelock which only rewards him with a slow, dull blink.

With a final dirty look at the two Enforcers he tugs his own mask off. He chucks the mask on his bed, and takes the opportunity to scrub at the fur that'd been mussed.

Nothing like mask fur. Worse than any hat fur ever.

Chance finally glances up, defiant with arms crossed over his chest.

Barry groans and buries his face into his hands. "See this is always how it starts. I'm doomed. In the comic books it's always the guy who knows the hero's secret identity who gets captured by the super villain. Every time!"

Despite his displeasure with the current events T-Bone cracks a hint of a smile at Barry's theatrics. Though Felina's expression clearly indicates she thinks he's lost his marbles.

Barry finally lifts his head from his hands and sighs, giving Chance a good eyeball before he speaks. He still looks rather irritated. "...Well I don't recognize you either, if that makes you feel any better. 'Chance' huh? Nice to 'meet' you, I guess." He extends his hand to him again.

Chance makes a grumble and shakes his head. But he begrudgingly takes Barry's hand again and they shake.

"Well. Now what," the Sergeant questions, turning to Felina.

"Chance is your new best friend, Barry," Felina says, smirking.

Both the toms snort, in unison. "Great. Just great," Barry grouses.


	10. Chapter 10

"Alright, I'm back," Felina says, closing the door behind herself. She grabs a straight chair from beside it and props it under the knob. "I talked to the nurses. The therapists are gonna want to take Chance down the hall to that therapy room they got, to exercise, well, Jake too once he's not..." She waved a hand at Jake's dopey expression. "We have to work out a schedule," Felina says, as she stalks back and forth across the floor at the foot of the two beds.

Barry is slumped in the chair and watching her suspiciously. "I don't get it Lieutenant. We're already staying 24 hours with them."

"That doesn't cover when they're separated," she says. Felina pauses mid-step and turns towards Barry. "I don't want either of these two left alone. One or the other of us needs to be with them."

Barry frowns and sits up slightly. "So if they're being separated at times… that means we both gotta be here. Ugh. You mean it's worse than 12 hour shifts?" Barry asks. Chance as well looks skeptical.

"Possibly. We're going to both have to be here at least some of the day." She nods.

"Great. Hey not that I don't like you T-Bone but I like my off hours!"

Chance shrugs, seeming unoffended.

Felina sticks her hands in her pockets. "You'll be here at night at least. If you keep the door secure you don't need to stand guard the whole time. Who cares if you sleep?"

Barry looks at her, startled. "What sort of superior officer says stuff like that?"

Chance snorts back a laugh.

"Alright, it's almost 1930 now. So I'll leave in a bit, and I'll be back at seven." Felina says, decisive.

"AM?"

"Yes, AM. 0700." She rolls her eyes and continues. "Until Chance gets back into this room and isn't leaving again, both of us need to be here. Hopefully that gets done early, so you can get home. Then if you come back at seven or so, I'll leave again."

Barry looks at her suspiciously. "Sounds like you get more down time than me."

"We'll work with it! It's got wiggle room!" Felina argues, then raises a finger. "One more thing. We need that door locked at all times. No nurses, no therapists, no nobody gets in or out without us letting them in or out. I'm gonna get a lock put in that door ASAP. Block it with a chair until then whether they're masked or not."

Barry grins slightly. "Alright. I can play doorman. I'm okay with locking nurses in with us, especially if they're cute." Chance mockingly swings backhanded at his head. His eyes widen and he ducks. "Hey! Cute she-Kat nurses, come on! What sort of Tom are you?"

Chance pauses, hand in mid air as if he's considering if the merits outweigh the concerns of the involuntary confinement of cute nurses.

There is a THUD at the door and a muffled "ow." All three Kats stare at the door a second. Even Jake glances blurrily that way.

"...Hello? Something is blocking the door!" someone calls.

"This is gonna be more complicated than I expected," Barry muses.

Felina ignores them and plunks down on the end of Jake's bed, and pats his knee through the blanket. "This is a security nightmare, huh Jake? Pulling this off will be a miracle."

"HELLO!? SOMETHING IS BLOCKING THE DOOR!?"

~~~~~~~~/. ~~~~~~~/ ~~~~~~~/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They'd put off the nurse for a while longer, but before long both SWAT Kats were masked up again because she was going to have a stroke if they didn't let her in. "I know those IV pumps are going to start beeping any second!" When Barry opened the door her tail was puffed out like a brush and she treated the Lieutenant and Sergeant as little better than kidnappers.

After a bit Felina left and Barry breathed a sigh of relief when the nurse went too, since all she'd done (besides her job) was glare daggers at him.

A speech therapist showed to work with T-Bone. She was cheerful and pleasant and brought along the kind of wrk books a Kit in Kindergarten would use, and a lot of colored pencils. She spoke to him clearly and slowly and asked lots of yes or no questions, and T-Bone got the feeling she didn't think he understood her. But he gamely tackled the exercises she was starting him on.

At first. He struggles.

He struggles through making 'B' noises and 'K' noises and putting up with the sweet expression of the speech therapist and Barry's bluff, hearty encouragement.

He struggles through forming word sounds, ones you'd use to make words like 'house' and 'car' and 'window'. The speech therapist wasn't even trying to make him form the whole word.

He was incapable of writing the letters or name them, though he recognized them all. He could trace the broken line letters in the Kit's workbook a dozen times then fail to write them freehand.

She did though have him work on drawing pictures of the words they were working on. The pictures went okay. He'd never been a genius draftsman with drawing like Jake, but he could at least sketch out designs when they were working on the Turbokat. And you know, talk. Yeah, talking had been in there too. Before this.

When the IVs are all flushed and fresh bags hung, the ST is gone, the last pill is swallowed and Barry finally gets the brush-tail nurse gone again and jams the chair under the doorknob behind her, there's a little time to unwind. The masks come off. Barry gets Jake turned onto his side the way he's seen the nurses doing it, so he could see the TV. Well, if he were awake. He wasn't responding to Barry speaking to him, just laid where he was put. Like a floppy log. Barry settles into Jake's bedside chair and he and Chance watch an episode of Scaredy Kat. Or Barry watched it. Chance keeps watching Jake. When the show's over Barry shuts the TV off and leaves Chance the remote before he drags the recliner in the room in front of the door and settles in.

And Chance lays awake staring at the featureless ceiling, listening to Barry snoring and Jake's quiet breathing and the soft chug of the pumps at both their bedsides. And he wonders how many nights like this are left before they go home. If they go home. If Jake pulls through. Without warning tears start to flood his eyes.

'Crud. If you'd just wake up, buddy…'

With a shout of anger Chance grabs the nearest object and throws it as hard as he can against the wall. The porcelain coffee mug he'd been using for a pencil holder hits with a bang loud as a bomb and shatters everywhere.

Barry yelps, leaping out of the recliner like his tail was on fire. "I wasn't asleep Commander I was just resting my eye- hey!" he says, startled, staring at Chance.

The bigger SWAT Kat is hunched in the bed, face in his hands. Even Jake has lifted his head a little and is giving Chance a puzzled look before he fades off again. Barry assesses the situation in only a moment, and doesn't hesitate. He flips on a light, reaches over and checks that the door to the hall is yet locked. Which is fortunate, as the knob rattles and then there's banging.

"Sergeant! Sergeant? What's going on in there?"

"Everything's okay! Just dropped a cup. Nothing big!" Barry calls. He walks towards Chance, who's still got his face hidden in his hands. "Hey, get mad at something?"

Chance sighs and puts his hands down. The fur on his face is streaked with tears and he gulps a breath. And he glares at Barry before making a filthy hand gesture.

Barry shrugs, and walks towards the wall. Grumbling, he leans down to start picking up shards of coffee mug. He glances up, seeing Chance trying to wipe his tears away.

"Ah don't worry about it, T-Bone," Barry says, sticking a blue and an orange colored pencil in his breast pocket. "I'm not blaming you for getting frustrated. Though… holy Kats, you put a dent in the wall," he says, impressed sounding.

Chance glances over. Sure enough there's an indent in the drywall and Barry starts to laugh. "Remind me not to ever get you mad at me," he comments. He dumps his handful of ceramic into a garbage can, and goes into the bathroom. A moment of running water later, and he's back with a wet paper towel which he uses to swipe up the last tiny shards.

"I'll get the rest of it in the morning," he says, tossing the paper towel in the waste bin. "Or I'll make the cleaning chick do it. That sounds better. …. This sounds stupid but you want to tell me about it?" he asks, awkwardly. He heads back towards the beds.

Chance smirks, and wipes away another tear with the heel of his hand.

"Oh. Yeah, that is a stupid question. … you know," he says, conversationally, and lays the colored pencils down on the overbed table, "I saw you doodling earlier. Thought about drawing it out?"

Chance pauses, then shrugs exaggeratedly. He jerks his thumb at Jake.

"What, Razor? What about him?"

Chance struggles for a moment to say 'draw' which is difficult when one can't enunciate the 'd'. And then he scribbles in the air with one of the colored pencils.

"He good at drawing?" Barry guesses.

Chance nods.

"Well you could try it anyway even if you're not the greatest. I don't know. I'm no great shakes at drawing myself. I can't make a decent stick figure."

"Aaaaah…" Chance waves at him, like 'go along with you, you liar'.

"Nah really, look." He grabs a fresh sheet of paper out of the small notebook from his pocket and starts laboriously making a blue stick figure Dark Kat. One big circle, with stick legs and arms, and a round head with points on top for ears. The only way you know it's Dark Kat is the jagged toothy shape for the mouth and what is supposedly a cape. And the fact he wrote 'Dark Kat' above it.

Chance snorts, and grabs the orange pencil, and Barry rips off a couple fresh sheets. He makes a sneaky looking orange creepling and adds fire at the end of Barry's Dark Kat tail. And the creepling is carrying a pumpkin on its shoulder. Evidently because the pencil is orange.

Barry eyes the combined art work. "...Yeah this isn't going into the museum is it?"

"N-n-n.. Nah. Muh… mus…." He swiftly sketches a doorway that bears more than a passing resemblance to the main entrance to Megakat Museum over Dark Kats shoulder.

"Hey, not bad. Still. I don't think it's on the same level as an Old Masterkat." He tucks the blue pencil into Chance's hand. "Try it out, alright?" he encourages, and then he's rummaging in the exercise book the ST had left in the bedside table. There were some blank letter size pages in the back and he lays three or four out.

Chance sighs, scratching at the side of his head then gives Barry a wavery smile, picking up a pencil.

"I'm gonna go back to sleep. Holler if you need something. If you throw something my way, make sure it's soft." Barry wanders back to the recliner by the door and settles in, already half asleep.

And Chance sketches out an empty hospital bed. All in blues and orange.


	11. Chapter 11

**The brick work was excellently done. Each chamber's walls were plastered twenty feet high and the brick above was bare, aches arranged into a spiral pattern disappearing into the gloom overhead. Their delicate appearance deceived one to their true strength. Only the patina of age belied their construction date, and the entire construction was far too decorative to be hidden underground. Such was the craftsmanship of the kats of the past, always creating beauty even when that beauty would never be enjoyed by any but the builder. Nobody went into a cistern. **

**Starting 200 years ago the cistern system had been slowly abandoned and was now entirely supplanted by modern plumbing and sewer systems. It was an enormous complex of multiple large chambers connected by 9 foot high tunnels directly below the streets of Megakat City. Consequently, the setup was most appropriate for his current needs. It was easily secured, most Kats living above were ignorant of its existence and those few who were permitted access could easy climb down a Kat-hole to find him. Dry, airy, secure, centrally located, and perfectly beautiful in its construction; yes it was a fitting environs for his Hall. **

**He had found pleasure in it once but today he could not find his former enjoyment in the simple elegance of the architecture. Nor could he muse over his latest plan while at repast, a jeweled goblet in hand, nor focus on the tantalizing complexities of ruling the City that surely was soon within his grasp. No, he could savor none of his brilliant plans. The current duty was far less satisfying.**

**"Fool!" Cowering at his feet was a ruddy tom, crouched on his hands and knees with his nose pressed to the floor, his body shaking like a leaf which made his hair, all out on end, even more ludicrous. Towering over him, the black and red robed kat stepped forward and pointed a bejeweled hand at him. "Had you stayed your paw and acted with more tact I'd know the identity of one of the SWAT Kats, and one Swat Kat would lead me to the other! This pitiful sketch does nothing," he glanced once more at the line sketch the Kat had cobbled together, distorted by lack of artistic talent. "I need a photograph! Something to run through my superior facial recognition software! Ahh, then I'd have you within my claws, you meddlesome SWAT Kats," he gloated with relish, and he crumpled the sketch and tossed it away with a show of distaste. Ponderously he seated himself in his chair, a throne really upon a dais and looked down at the still shaking minion. "But," he raised a finger and paused, long enough that the shivering underling dared to raise his head just slightly, to see what his master was doing, "perhaps you can still prove useful to me. I will have another task for you shortly, and if you can prove your loyalty to me... I -may- be lenient."**

**"Yes sir, D-Dark K-Kat, I won't fail you sir," the kat babbled, groveling with his face on the floor. "Thank you my lord, master, you won't regret-"**

**"Enough! See that you don't disappoint me further, or else..." He let the threat hang in the air as he as he stood, turned his back on the coward and walked back towards the computer array. The cowardly kat backed away on his hands and knees until he reached the doorway to the tunnel into the chamber, and then scrambled to his feet to run.**

**With a touch of Dark Kats fingers the console and monitors came to life. He perused the information displayed briefly, before he slamming his fist on the counter with irritation. "Those blasted SWAT Kats! I could have had them while they were still at Megakat Memorial, if not for the interfering incompetence of that sparking imbecile and those metallic menaces. I should have moved in, but I wasn't ready!" He fumed, and turned to glower at the computer screens to the left of him. "And now that irritant Feral has hidden the SWAT Kats somewhere! But no matter. No secret in this city is safe from Dark Kat for long," he mused to himself. "In the meantime I will continue to perfect my plans… Soon enough I'll learn where they are, and I will play my hand. And if I grow impatient there may yet be a way…" **

**Two images were prominent on his computer screen, their biographies listed below. The first image was one he was well acquainted with, for her political maneuverings had long been a thorn in his side. The Deputy Mayor was a deceptively agile and worthy foe, for all her girly pink suits and big hair. The other was unknown to him. It was simply that of a nondescript grey furred tomkat, wearing Enforcer Sergeant stripes.**

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**"You're sweating," Felina observes. **

**T-Bone shrugs and mops at his forehead with a towel as they walk, or rather, Felina walks and T-Bone rides in the wheelchair she's pushing. After about the equivalent of a block and a half of walking he'd started getting chest pain, turned pale, and the tech had hurriedly stopped the treadmill. The nurse was called, Dr Bengal happened to come just then to check the wounded warriors and got involved, and it was decided after a lot of fussing that T-Bone was -not- having a second heart attack. But they hadn't let him back on the treadmill and physical therapy was cancelled for the rest of the day. T-Bone had really been pretty pissed, or she suspected that was the prevailing emotion the way he shouted unintelligible words and waved his hands, or did after the sublingual nitro kicked in and he could stop clutching his chest. **

**"You'll try again tomorrow, alright? Like Dr. Bengal said, the miles per hour was a little fast."**

**He grunts something and tucks his chin into his chest, grumbling half-formed swear words. She was quiet then, and didn't say anything as they reached the door to their ward, and raised her paw to knock. **

**"This isn't supposed to be running!" shouts a familiar voice. "And why is this dosage so high?!"**

**"But it's the dosage you calculated," the nurse was heard to protest. "You checked the numbers."**

**Felina and T-Bone pause and glance at each other before Felina inches the door open and both peer into the room. Barry is standing by the foot of Razor's bed confusedly looking from Razor to the doc, to the nurse. **

**Dr. Bengal is stalking back and forth, his face livid with rage as he waves his arms and shouts. "It's TOO HIGH! YOU calculated the wrong weight! That's not Razor's weight that's T-BONE'S! This is a toxic dosage!"**

**The nurse pauses, then her hand moves up to cover her mouth, eyes wide. For a long few moments they all stare at each other in horrified silence**

**"Damn! You coulda killed him!" Dr. Bengal hollers, and returns to stalking through the room.**

**"Me?!" Nurse Stripenose throws her hand down and huffs. "I didn't calculate this dosage!" She says, indignant.**

**"This is why I hate working with temp nurses! Damn Milton, throwing me into this!"**

**"You have nobody to blame for this dosing error but yourself! You can't - DOCTOR," she says, in an insistent, placating tone, "this is both our faults, alright? We're working without a pharmacist-"**

**"I'M NOT LOSING MY LICENSE BECAUSE OF YOU!"**

**"How DARE you speak to me-"**

**"SHUT UP! ARE YOU STUPID? It's -sedating- him!" Bengal shouts, then groans as he rubs at his eyes. The nurse blinks and moves towards the IV but then leaps back as Dr. Bengal turns on her and starts roaring again. "HE DOESN'T NEED IT ANYMORE! All this stuff is doping him up!"**

**The nurse is practically cowering against the wall while Barry, obviously in shock, stares at this scene. **

**"I get it! Stop.. stop yelling at me!" she says but she can't help but get in a jab. "You signed this medication list yesterday! AGAIN! These are -your- orders! We're only giving what you told us to! There was no end date on the ord-"**

**"Well stop me when I do that!" he huffs, then he seems to try to control himself a moment. It lasts a split second before he starts in on her again. "His leg looks terrible. There's no way a skin graft will take now. DAMMIT!" Without warning he sends the clipboard flying in the nurse's direction and she leaps aside with a yelp. It crashes against the wall above Razor's head and the SWAT Kat jerks, eyes wide.**

**Barry rushes Bengal and grabs the doc by the shoulder. "Hey! That's no way to act, Doc!"**

**"These stupid nurses-!" Bengal sputters.**

**"Don't. Don't act like that." he warns him, with a deadly glitter in his eye. "You throw something again and you are going. to. regret. it."**

**Nurse Stripenose, now close to tears, scoots around the bed and backs off a few feet.**

**T-Bone, looking just as pissed as Barry, is out of the chair and stalking to the foot of the bed. He looks like he's about ready to help Barry take the Doc down.**

**Barry glances at T-Bone and shakes his head, before he pulls Doctor Bengal's shoulder so he sits heavily in the easy chair. "Now tell us what's going on."**

**"He's been massively over medicated, has DOPED UP OUT OF HIS MIND!" The doc blurts, with an accusatory look at the nurse. "Maybe toxic. Maybe DYING!"**

**Barry twists the doc's collar and yanks him back up again, onto his tiptoes. "Don't. Shout. I can't stand a tom a-shouting at a she-kat."**

**"I don't think he's dying," Nurse Stripenose says with injured dignity. "He had labs this morning and his ALT and seg rate and- and CMP and everything was fine!" **

**"What the hell do you know about it?! Let go of me! Please, Sergeant," Bengal adds with slightly more calm. **

**Felina eyes the IVs. "So it's all a med? Shut it off," she orders.**

**The nurse eyes Bengal with angry tear filled eyes a moment before she moves past them to remove the piggyback IV.**

**"Are you done here? You had plenty of time to examine him, so are you done?" The Sgt asks sternly as he loosens his grip on the doctor's collar. **

**Bengal blinks. "Well yes, I suppos-"**

**"Good. You're done so I'm walking you out," Barry interrupts him and gives the doctor no opportunity to object as he drives him by his grip on his shoulder towards the door. "Back in a few, Lieutenant," Barry calls behind him. **

**Felina shakes his head and glances at the nurse, who is shaking a little but going through the motions of flushing Razor's saline lock and gathering up her equipment. "Hey, you're sure he's going to be okay? I mean how long until the stuff is out of his system?" Felina questions**

**The nurse shrugs, using the motion to wipe her eyes with her shoulder. "I am sorry this h-has happened- but I don't think he's dying," she says with disgust as she tosses the piggyback setup into the garbage. "It'll just wear off. Um, 8, maybe 12 hours?"**

**"Then he'll come to?" She presses. **

**"I hope so. Assuming that was the problem," she says, her voice thick with unshed tears. **

**Felina takes a little pity on her. "Look, you're pretty much done right? You gave him all his meds and he's not gonna get this thing flushed again-" **

**"I have to get Mr. Razor washed up and -"**

**Felina shakes her head. "Between me and the Sgt and T-Bone we can get him cleaned up. You go take a break, come back later and do your last whatever you do before shift change."**

**"You can't do that, it's-"**

**"I think we can handle it," she says quietly. **

**T-Bone was standing next to his friend's bed and was looking down at him with a mixture of worry and hope. **

**"You need to go collect yourself. It'll be fine." Felina says firmly. "We're not going to need anything."**

**"Th-thank you Lieutenant Feral. I'll be back then," she says between gulps. She was rubbing at her eyes as she left and pulled the door shut behind her. **

**Felina siiiighs and rubs at her eyes, walks over, locks the door, then slumps her shoulder against it. "Wow. WOW. I'm sorry Chance."**

**"Uhm?" Chance glances up at her. "Whuh."**

**"This shouldn't be happening! You should be in a real hospital instead of this makeshift crud!"**

**Chance shrugs, and drops into the recliner the doc had so recently been vacated from. "Sshhhhhokay."**

**"It's not okay," she mutters. "This isn't fair."**

**"Leeeh. Fffffrrg." He waves his hand dismissively. "Fall. No." **

**Felina shoves away from the door, looking tired as she folds up the wheelchair and shoves it against the wall.**

**"Crud, it just makes me so ANGRY. That stupid, vicious, jerk of a CEO. Well… you get to brush Jake's teeth tonight."**

**Smitty felt he was a pretty long suffering kat. He'd been an enforcer for nearly 46 years, longer than anyone else on the force, longer than the Commander or anyone at the Academy, and when they forced him to retire at 42 years in he'd come back three months later and asked for a new job. **

**The evidence locker was boring at times but that was okay by Smitty. He might not of been ready to retire but that didn't mean he missed chasing down crazy megalos with bombs or snotty (and energetic) teenage pickpockets. The quiet, methodical, orderly routine of the evidence locker suited him just fine. He'd done his time on a beat, he figured by now he deserved a little peace and quiet. **

**There were days however, the kind of days when he thought about retiring all over again and taking up fishing, like every day in the last week.**

**"M-m-m-m-m-m-Mac" the voice stuttered. "W-w-wake up."**

**The red glow that indicated she had vision shorted out again and for about two minutes (Smitty had timed it, it was exactly 132 seconds) the female robot was silent until her eyes flickered red again and she started over with "M-m-mMac. W-w-wake up." For ten seconds, repeating every 18 seconds, for 32 repetitions until she powered down again.**

**Smitty had long ago tucked his ears full of cotton but the noise was only muffled into an annoying back track. "Pipe down!" He called for probably the thirtieth time. Fat lot of good it did. **

**When the female Metallikat had started this refrain he'd sent a note up to the Commander's office, and got a memo back from his Sgt stating the Commander would take care of it. Well that hadn't happened yet, and Molly hadn't stopped talking either.**

**He didn't listen to the radio much, especially since 'the incident'. The Commander hadn't blamed him, after all how was he or anyone else to know Creeplings were tunneling into the evidence locker? But it'd been an avoidable security breach, and he'd sure felt bad at the obvious disgust and disappointment the Commander had shown. The guys down the hall in Security usually got growly if his radio was loud enough for them to hear but when things were quiet the Security staff could hear Molly's voice echoing down the hall. The night shift was measurably more tolerant of Smitty's radio for that reason. Since it was past six pm and the building was thinning out, he figured it was late enough. He turned the radio up loud enough to drown Molly out and sighed in relief before going back to his book, his impulse to take one of the baseball bats in evidence to Molly's metal skull lessening somewhat. Kevin Smith was a gentle Kat but his patience was being sorely tried. **

**The radio was playing just loud enough that the older Tom again missed the noises in the evidence locker. When he found the hole, and the missing Metallikats, the poor kat threw his hat down it in disgust. After the dressing down Feral was going to give him, if he wasn't dishonorably discharged, he was going to retire this time for good.**

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**"You ever notice that when Chance plays Jake's cards, Jake loses and Chance wins every. Single. Hand?" Barry asks, gesturing at Chance with his own handful of playing cards.**

**"...eh...?" Chance straightens up and eyeballs Barry.**

**"Look at him smirking. You're cheating, Chance. Give Chance a chance to cheat, and a cheat named Chance will chance a cheat."**

**Chance makes a particularly rude noise.**

**"Males! Quit it, you two. Are we gonna play another round before I head out, or not? I can play Jake's cards." Felina takes Barry's cards out of his hand and starts shuffling the deck expertly.**

**"Nnn. Nnnoh..." **

**"I agree with Chance, Lieutenant. You cheat just as bad."**

**The three are gathered around Jake's bed with a tray table littered with cans of milk and a empty snack bowl, empty but for cheese puff crumbs anyway. Felina taps the deck together on the surface and slides it back towards Barry. "Your turn to deal."**

**Jake was propped up high in the bed, still out of it. Nothing had changed since yesterday except that the day shift nurse had switched off with night shift, and they'd started to eye him with worried, puzzled glances, then whisper among themselves. Felina suspected Razor was worrying them but nobody had come out and said anything yet.**

**As if he knows they're talking about him he abruptly lifts his head and blinks at them all.**

**"Hey, Jake! You waking up?" Barry greets him. **

**The swat kat swallows and stares at him with glazed eyes before he groans and thumps his head back on the pillow.**

**"Hey, relax," Felina says and she reaches over to stroke Jake between the ears. A deep purr rumbles out of his throat, and Felina chokes out a laugh. "Hey, he's purring at me!" she says, incredulously. **

**Barry laughs with embarrassment. "Oh oh. Well don't tease him, Lieutenant."**

**"I'm not!" she says with disgust. "Dang, Jake, this is embarrassing, I didn't know you felt that way," she jokes uncomfortably, and there're more snorts of laughter. **

**"Hah! Ewww. Hey! Sh… soorsh…. dammit," Chance says to him and Jake blinks dully. "...J-ake? J-ake?" Chance stares as Jake's eyes close and he sighs, leaning back in the chair.**

**"Well... that was something…" Barry mentions. **

**And Felina shakes her head. "This med reaction or whatever they say it is better wear off soon," she mutters.**

**"...Maybe you should pet him some more, Lieutenant," Barry mutters under his breath. He gulps when Felina's fingers, claws extended, clutch his collar.**

**"Did you say something, Sergeant?" she snarls, looming above the tom with glittering eyes. **

**Barry shrinks in his chair, eyes wide with terror. "No, not a word, Lieutenant! Sir! I mean, ma'am! I MEAN SIR NO SIR MS. LIEUTENANT FERAL MA'AM!" Barry shouts, obviously and rightly in fear of his life. **

**She glares at him and shoves him away, by his collar. "I cannot believe you said that. Idiot. Deal the cards"**

**Distracted, Chance stares at the overbed table that they were dealing the cards out on while each receive their hand. **

**"Chance?" Felina questions, and Chance looks up, puzzled. **

**"It's your turn," she points out, and he sheepishly picks up his cards. Though he then looks at Felina with an odd confusion on his face.**

**"He's havin' another one huh?" Barry asks, looking up from straightening his shirt.**

**"Just give him a minute,". Felina says, irritated at the Sergeant but she was gentle voiced to Chance. "We're playing Go Fish."**

**"Fih?" he asks, staring at the cards in his hand without comprehension.**

**"Yeah, you know. Go Fish, Chance. You gotta get matches to lay cards down," Barry sounds just as patient. **

**For a few moments they watch Chance as he struggles, staring at the cards and finally closes his eyes. "...righ…r-r-r-r. Rihhhhhhight. Yeah." He shuffles his cards again, and makes a selection from the pile. And pauses.**

**Felina elects not to nitpick and tell him he's missed a step.**

**"Chance. You got Jake's cards to do too," Barry says.**

**Chance winces, realizing he forgot. Again. He picks them up, studies them a second and glances up at Felina.**

**"Feh. Fff. For?" **

**Felina shakes her head. "Nope sorry. No fours. Go Fish."**

**"You're cheatin' already, I know it," Barry grumbles, and Chance smirks when he picks up one from the pile only to set down three others. "Oohk….kay."**

**When the cards are placed he glances back up, noting that Barry is picking at his teeth with a claw and Felina is giving him a disgusted look. Chance shakes his head and on the next turn after going back through his own cards again smiles, and lays another set down. **

**Barry blinks, and starts to sputter as he goes through his own hand.**

**_I know he can hear me. He needs me to tell him how everything will be okay, and I can't. And I need him to wake up, because I need to hear him say it too._**

**_If I talk to him, he'll wake up. He's gotta… right?_**

**_I could borrow that LaMew novel off Feral and read it aloud. I could... Do more than stare at him and wait._**

**_Who's … oh. That's right. Felina. Come on, Felina is talking, idiot!_**

**"Chance? Chance. Chance? T-Bone!" Felina says insistantly.**

**Chance swallows and continues to stare at the cards in his hands.**

**"He's havin' another one already?" Barry mutters, and glances at his wrist watch.**

**"Shh!" Felina replies, sharply.**

**T-Bone blinks and focuses on her a second before his expression returns to a vague stare.**

**Barry sighs, and looks down at his cards, between Chance and and Jake.**

**Chance's eyes are darting back and with blank, faintly puzzled expression.**

**"Real sorry sight to see isn't it?" Barry states sorrowfully.**

**Felina eyes him angrily. "You act like you think they're both… both vegetables" she accuses.**

**Barry shifts uncomfortably. "Course I don't think that! 'Specially cause I know that's not true!" he argues. "But you got to admit this ain't right! Neither of them is 'okay'," he says, making quote fingers in the air.**

**Felina sighs and lays her own cards down, silent a moment before a malicious smirk forms. "You know sergeant, I just thought of a promotion in your duties…"**

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**Four hours later, Barry is standing on the steps of City Hall before a crowd of news kats with microphones and stuttering his way through reading the prepared note cards in his hand "...and since then they've been moved to a secure location…" He falters. "I don't know, what else do you want to hear?"**

**A male news-kat in the front hides his laugh by a quick coughing noise, and Ann Gora speaks up. "Sergeant Bagheera, can you tell us anything about the SWAT Kats medical conditions currently?"**

**"Uh, yes, uh, Ann, uhm, well they're both okay. I mean mostly. I mean they've got a long way to go yet but they're both going to be okay. Uh. I'm not a doctor," he says, apologetically and Ann gives him a reassuring smile.**

**"So both of the SWAT Kats are stable and improving steadily?"**

**"Yes! That's uh, that's a good way to put it," he agrees. **

**"Exactly what are the nature of their injuries?"**

**"Uh, well, as I'm sure you're aware from the footage, that was a pretty bad crash. Without saying too much there are some fractures and internal injuries, and burns."**

**"When do you think they can return to their former lives?"**

**"I can't answer that. Uh, yes, you sir?"**

**The reporter was a older, portly fellow from one of the more respectable newspapers, one that was fairly anti-Manx but pro SWAT Kat. He tucked a wisp of thinning hair back behind his ear before he speaks. "Sergeant Bagheera, has Commander Feral ascertained the true identities of the SWAT Kats?" **

**He shakes his head firmly. "No, that's not a priority, and it's being treated as a matter of security at this time. Uh. Any other questions?"**

**Among the other members of the press was a kat known for his writing in a cheap paranoia rag that printed bimonthly. He shoulders his way past Ann with a small tape recorder in his hand which he sticks in Barry's direction.**

**"Will you expose and name and identify the members of our government, of the highest levels of our government, I might add, that are using their influence to protect these dangerous vigilantes?"**

**Barry pauses in thought a moment then smiles. "That's a serious question?"**

**There is chuckling from some in the crowd as the news Kat begins to rant. "The people of MKC DESERVE to know! We all know Commander Feral would never let an excuse to identify the SWAT Kats go by! So they have to have high level protectors, VERY high level, elitist controlling powers who can dictate to Commander Feral!" At a few agreeing nods from some surrounding him, he is emboldened, and takes a large breath before bellowing "And the Whistleblower News is sworn to uncover all the plots the lying elite have to keep us unaware, compliant and VACCINATED with unnecessary health destroying neurotoxins! We can be prepared! Wake up!"**

**Barry blinks at him a couple times. "Oooookay. I don't… wait, is this a real thing?" he asks, disbelievingly. "This is a joke right?"**

**" This isn't a joke at all, not at all! The Whistleblower news is the only major publication brave enough to ask the questions the mainstream media is too afraid to ask! Our readers aren't blinded like the rest of the sheeple who trudge through this city, enslaved to their employers and listening to their elitist rulers and politically shackled police, OR to scientifically illiterate 'doctors' advising vaccines and toxic medications! We're awake and we demand the truth!"**

**"...The truth?" Barry shouldn't of asked.**

**"For instance, the profits generated by the depopulation agenda, which you can read about in our latest issue! Research has PROVEN that FIV is a government created GMO disease created for population control. WAKE UP, katizens! And!" he adds, "they're now conspiring to fund the SWAT Kats so they can keep endangering the lives of the good katizens of Megakat City!"**

**Barry goggles at him. "Uh. Okay. Sure. Funding the SWAT Kats. That's definitely something that the Commander's behind. Why not."**

**The rest of the press bursts into laughter, however the paranoid kat emits a loud gasp before shouting "This is not a laughing matter! They ARE funding the SWAT Kats, they HAVE funded them, Mayor Manx rebuilt their jet once PUBLICALLY! I have evidence that Commander Ulysses Feral has contracted with the SWAT Kats to spread dangerous, untested aerosolized VACCINES through their jet CHEMtrails!"**

**"Through their what?"**

**"CHEMtrails, the chemicals that they spray out of their jet engines that masquerades as harmless water vapor!"**

**"Okay first of all, I'm not a pilot but that's the stupidest line of hooey I have ever heard."**

**"ADMIT THAT COMMANDER FERAL IS A JESUIT ILLUMINATI FUNDED PUPPET!"**

**Barry blinks at him.**

**"See! YOU DON'T EVEN ATTEMPT TO DENY IT!"**

**"Alright this press conference is over!" Barry says hastily as he walks off, with a wary look over his shoulder as he walks off the steps. "I ain't had enough coffee today to put up with that."**

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**

**"Hey, Lieutenant, that was a dirty deal," Barry accuses Felina, who's leaning against the door frame smirking as he comes back in. **

**"I think you did pretty good, Sergeant. Come on, let's get back to HQ. We can play another hand or two with Chance before I head out."**

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**"If you win this game you're gonna be 3 for 3, Chance," Felina comments.**

**"I still think he's cheatin'...I just can't figure out HOW," Barry complains, as he shuffles his hand. They were playing Old Maid this time, and Felina guessed he had her in his hand, by his scowling.**

**All their ears perk at the sudden inclusion of a voice they'd not heard for days.**

**"Chance?" Jake mumbles, and opens his eyes. "Hey…. What's… up?" Jake murmurs. **

**There is a *CRASH* and Barry yelps as he is pushed aside and Jake is attacked by a big yellow stripey tom cat.**

**"Chance…. hey…." Jake whispers, and squeaks as Chance squeezes him so tight his ribs protest. Chance is crying like a kitten, with big uncontrolled sobs, which shocks Jake a little and he's patting Chance's back, trying to be comforting even as he's getting the stuffing hugged out of him. Jake hugs him as tightly right back and for a long moment they're holding each other like to let go would be the end of their entire worlds.**

**_You're awake! You're awake! Stay awake. I missed you buddy._**

**_I hope you're okay Jake. You seem okay. Are you in pain?_**

**_It's my fault this happened. I'm so sorry, alright? I let that missile hit the jet._**

**"Come on pal…..., it's alright. Relax. Okay?" Jake says soothingly.**

**Chance nods shakily and finally lets go of Jake, wiping madly at his eyes. Concerned, Jake reaches to grab him again but Chance shakes his head. One hand grabs the bedside tail and the other clings tight to Jake's arm.**

**_It's not okay... Not really. But you're back. That's what matters._**

**Jake then spots the overbed table, and cards laid out on it. "...Well I didn't... dream that!" **

**"You knew we were playing cards?" Barry questions as he and Felina re-approach the bedside. **

**"Yeah….. yesterday too... right?" he murmurs. They stare as he lifts a hand. It's shaking a little but he reaches to the cards. **

**"...This is a real... cruddy hand, Chance," he comments as he flips them over. "You.. set that… to cheat me?" **

**Chance's face screws up again and he turns away, surreptitiously wiping at his eyes. **

**"Aw crud, quit... pal. You cry and…. then you're grumpy. For a week," he mumbles. **

**Chance snorts and rubs at his eyes and Felina is laughing. "No, not a week! I can't hardly stand him for ten minutes!" There is relieved laughter at that and Felina leans in next, wrapping Jake up into a hug. **

**"Hey, I can get….. used to this…." Jake jokes, glancing at Barry. **

**"Hmph, you heroes. Getting all the she-kats," Barry jokes.**

**"...So…. I'm confused," Jake says slowly, glancing between them all. **

**"I'll bet you are," Barry replies. "I'd be confused too if the Lieutenant was hugging me!" Felina grabs the kleenex box off the counter and SMACKS Barry's shoulder with it.**

**"No no, uh, no," Jake chuckles. **

**"You've been out of it for a while." Barry comments.**

**"... Yeah I kinda… wait, a while? How long... a while?" Jake asks, alarmed looking. **

**"A few days," Felina hedges, "but It's alright. Both of you are going to be okay now," Felina replies. **

**Barry is nodding his agreement with Felina's words.**

**"Oh. Alright well. I'll just… take you at your…. word huh? I'm still confused but…." Jake shrugs. **

**"You wound up having surgery, then after they tried waking you up, you well, you wouldn't," Felina explains. "Just been waiting for you to come back." **

**"You…. okay? Talk to me, buddy." **

**"Jake, I think Chance is a little too overwhelmed..." Felina says, her tone cautious. **

**Chance exhales, frustrated and Jake's hand is starting to hurt from the grip, but no way is he letting go.**

**"Chance? Speechless?" Jake grins. "It's ok… I already know. I shouldn't... be teasing. You've been… Trouble talking" Jake mumbles, nodding. "Been listening. S'ok Hotshot. Know you'll…" He swallows. … Ok."**

**"Are -you- feelin' okay there Jake?" Barry questions.**

**"Just.. real tired. And throat's…. Dry."**

**"Bet we can fix that second part anyway," Barry comments, as he gets up and heads for the bathroom. **

**"Hey, why's Barry…. in on our secret identities now, hotshot?" **

**_Jake, it wasn't me! But Barry is a stand up guy. I doubt he knows more than our first names and our faces. Which, admittedly, is still too much but the damage is done._**

**Chance exhales, looking rather guilty, then shakes his head. "Nn..Neh Nnno. Nnnnnno Meh," he starts, then gives up, shaking his head. He reaches over and pats Felina's arm, obviously placing the blame elsewhere.**

**"Yeah you can blame that one on me. Barry's trustworthy," Felina says lazily.**

**"Lucky me," Barry grumps, as he's returning, but he flashes a wink at Jake as he hands the cup and straw to Felina, who helps Jake hold it. "Let's just say the Lieutenant has induced me not to tell." **

**As Jake drinks thirstily he glances around. Chance had taken Barry's seat when offered and Barry was trying to untangle Chance's IV line enough that the stripey tom wasn't caught. Obviously neither of them were 'okay' yet but….. A smile creases Jake's face as he finished drinking. "...Good to see… you, partner. You had me worried, alright?"**

**Chance swallows, and nods, not looking up right away. He was still wiping away a stray tear or two. **

**"I'm sorry. I shoulda known Dark Kat woulda… tried something underhanded like that, Chance," Jake says quietly. **

**Chance's ears perk and he glances up, surprised. What's he doing?**

**"I knew his weapons systems were… online. I didn't say anything, I mean…. why wouldn't they be?" he asks. "That's… my job. To keep the bad guys from… hitting us, isn't it? Or disabling... them before they can. Heh. If I woulda hit... him with a Plain Old Missile, we coulda been... through with Dark Crud…"**

**He sighs. "I could of prevented this... happening to you…. But we try so hard not to kill. Chance. I'm so sorry. You've got to live with this cause of me," he says softly. "I don't know… if you're gonna forgive me..**

**_Jake, no. Jake. It's my fault. I got too close. Jake. Don't. You didn't do it! I don't blame you. Partner? Please read my mind or something!_**

**He grabs both Jake's shoulders, staring at him.**

**Quickly Jake grabs at his wrist. "Buddy. Whatever it is. It's okay. We're a team still. Alright?". **

**_This is idiotic. Both of us blaming ourselves for being blown up and for not being there for the other, and the other not being there for him. Idiots. both of us._**

**Chance pauses a long moment, then quirks a smile, and sits again. "Ssssssh-uure. To-... To-g. Uh…. With," he finishes.**

**Jake laughs. "You're right. Together. Yeah….. that's the Chance I know."**

**Yeah. I shoulda known he woulda taken it like that. Nothing phases my buddy Jake. We're in it, together. Like always.**

**Felina was trying to compose herself by wiping at her eyes surreptitiously with the heel of her hand. "Great to see him back isn't it?"**

**Barry shrugs. "Long as we don't go sailing out a window this time."**

**Felina almost chuckled but her eyes were still suspiciously moist.**


End file.
